INDIANAPOLIS— A plan to create a pilot program that provides public funding to send low-income children to pre-kindergarten passed an Indiana House committee Thursday.
The bill is similar to legislation that passed the full House last year by a large majority but was pared down by the Senate. While the bill creates a framework for the pilot program, lawmakers are holding off on a decision on how to fund the program until 2015, when the next state budget is written.
The House Education Committee passed the bill, 10-3, after about two hours of public testimony.
Gov. Mike Pence has thrown his support behind the legislation this year, naming the vouchers as a priority.
Clarie Fiddian-Green, co-leader of the Pence-created Center for Education and Career Innovation, told the committee studies show it’s easier to prevent achievement gaps opening in early childhood than closing those learning gaps once they emerge.
“Indiana is one of only nine states that doesn’t currently provide some form of state funded pre-kindergarten,” Fiddian-Green said.
Under the program, children could receive vouchers beginning in 2015, with the maximum amounts per year at $6,800 for a full-day program and $3,400 for a half-day program. The bill would provide the vouchers to 4-year-olds and would roll out the program to five Indiana counties.
House Speaker Brian Bosma said the pilot program would initially include 1,000 children. However, the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimates as much as 4,600 children could qualify for the pilot program and estimates the cost to provide scholarships to those students at $24.6 million.
Overall, the agency estimates about 25,000 Hoosier 4-year-olds aren’t currently being served by an early childhood program and could qualify for a voucher in event they’re rolled out to the entire state.
The bill also would require a testing component to gauge whether voucher recipients are prepared for kindergarten. Early childhood providers, who accept voucher students, would have to administer a kindergarten readiness assessment. If less than 70 percent of students pass the first year, the provider could continue in the pilot program under a probationary basis but would be dropped in the second consecutive year.
Children who receive a pre-kindergarten voucher also would qualify for an additional voucher if they choose to attend private school for kindergarten. A fiscal impact statement on the bill assumes about 7 percent of students would go to a private school, which would cost about $1.6 million beginning in 2016.
The bill will now go to the full House for consideration.