The shame of Indiana offering a pilot preschool education program — one that Vanderburgh County was a part of — is that the state has limited greatly just how many children can participate.
An Associated Press and Indianapolis Star report this week told readers that the majority of families who applied for Indiana's preschool pilot program for disadvantaged children were turned away due to limited funding.
That is not how it should work. Instead, the state program should be reaching out to disadvantaged children who are greatly in need of preschool help.
It's a given that many children are prepared for school by receiving help at home or in programs they are enrolled in by their parents. On the other hand, children who do not receive such help benefit more directly by programs such as that offered by the state. That is why it was so encouraging that Indiana would take the lead in offering the state program last year.
Hence, Indiana offered its pilot preschool program to Marion, Lake, Allen, Jackson and Vanderburgh counties. Unfortunately, according to the Indianapolis Star, only 43 percent of those who applied were accepted. In our view, that is not nearly enough to have an impact on children who need early classroom help.
The Star reported that in Marion County, roughly 70 percent of the 5,000 kids whose parents applied were rejected.
As for Vanderburgh County, it had the highest rate of acceptance, but even here the program denied about 35 percent of applicants.
The unfortunate part of this report is that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence initially wanted to take the program statewide and hoped to send 40,000 children to preschool. However, the Legislature, which operates under a strong Republican majority, wanted nothing to do with it and rejected their fellow Republican's ambitions.
It didn't help either that Pence last year decided against seeking $80 million in prekindergarten funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The governor said at the time that he was concerned federal requirements could be tied to the funding. And now, this year, Republicans in the legislative majority say additional funding is not likely in the near future.
It strikes us that low-income children who do not have ready access to preschool opportunities need a champion in the Legislature. Perhaps no education issue is more important for Indiana than finding a way to provide a first-class education for the state's preschool children.
Unfortunately, official Indiana appears to be looking the other way. So sad.