Indiana

State invests no money in pre-K classes
By Krista J. Stockman
The Journal Gazette
Ft. Wayne, IN

Although some states believe better educating 3- and 4-year-olds can build their economic futures, Indiana is waiting for an economic turnaround before it invests in early-childhood education.

At a time when 19 states are considering putting more money into early-childhood education, Indiana is one of nine states nationwide, and the only Midwestern state, that does not financially support pre-kindergarten, according to Pre-K Now, a Washington-based organization that advocates providing the opportunity for all children to attend school before kindergarten.

“If I were an elected official in Indiana, I would be extremely concerned about the economic future of my state,” said Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now. She said states that have quality pre-kindergarten programs tend to be stronger economically and that while Indiana is still struggling economically, its neighbors that support preschool to some degree are doing better.

Illinois is one of the largest investors in pre-kindergarten programs, with a budget of $273
million for fiscal year 2006. The program, which began in 1985, initially served only students considered at-risk, but with the recent increases in funding, will be expanded over time to give access to all 3- and 4-year-olds. The money also supports programs for children from birth to age 3.

Ohio devotes more than $100 million a year to pay for public preschool and Head Start programs for low-income students. Kentucky spends about $50million a year on its program serving low-income and disabled students, and Michigan invests about $85million a year on its program for at-risk students.

Like all states, Head Start programs for children from low-income families are available in Indiana, and special education students in Indiana can start pre-kindergarten when they are 3 years old. But those programs are paid for with federal dollars and local property taxes – Indiana provides nothing.

Long-term investment

When pre-kindergarten supporters such as Jayma Ferguson, who heads the Indiana Department of Education’s division that handles early-childhood education, talk to legislators about finding money for preschool, they always talk about the financial benefits, she said.
“Dollars spent now are savings in the future,” she said.

The National Institute for Early Education Research estimates for every dollar spent, $7 is returned in lower special education and criminal justice costs and increased earnings later in life.
Officials in Iowa embraced that figure when they decided to increase pre-kindergarten spending by 177percent this year, raising the amount spent to $30million.

Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack said he considers the cost an investment in the state’s economic future and wants to continue putting money into the program in order to provide pre-kindergarten for all students.

“In my state, we’re trying to transform the economy,” he told a group of journalists at a conference last month in Chicago. He said Iowa is moving away from its agricultural and manufacturing base to an economy that will provide new jobs in new industries.

To do that, he said, state officials had to think long term, and education had to be a key component.

By the time students start kindergarten, the gap in achievement between low-income and minority students and their peers is already apparent. Experts say starting students earlier – at 3 or 4 years old – can shrink or eliminate the gap before it gets too large and children get discouraged and drop out of school.

“You can make this a priority,” Vilsack said. “You can always find the money for your priorities. This just hasn’t been a priority.”

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, said early-childhood education is a priority in Indiana, but the state just doesn’t have the money for it.

“If Indiana were in the fiscal shape of other states, we might be doing it today,” he said. “I have often said that when we have additional investments to make, that making those at the earlier years probably makes the most sense of any. … We’ve got a long way to go before we can say that we even have the books in balance let alone can make major new investments. But when we can, and that day’s coming, education and early education is right at the front of the list.”

A question of priorities

Fort Wayne Community Schools has made preschool a priority.

In addition to the required special education program, the district uses Title I money given to schools with the highest percentage of low-income students to provide pre-kindergarten for children from low-income families. And two of the district’s magnet schools – Bunche Elementary and Whitney Young Early Childhood Center – offer pre-kindergarten to anyone in the district.

This year, the district will spend about $1.4million on non-mandatory pre-kindergarten programs. But Superintendent Wendy Robinson said even when budgets are tight, the expense is worth it.

“Our philosophy of budgeting is: You put your money where your priorities are, and our priorities are things that we know are helping kids in the classroom,” Robinson said.

She said it is clear that getting students – especially those who are at risk – into a classroom earlier will help them not only as young children, but it will help them graduate from high school and be prepared for college or the workplace.

“You have to make up for the gap in experiences,” she said. “When schools have pre-K and full-day kindergarten, you have the opportunity to catch kids up.”

Providing that opportunity is something the state’s Education Roundtable recognized when it created its P-16 Plan for Improving Student Achievement, a statewide education plan covering pre-kindergarten through four years of college. One of the steps to improve student achievement is to ensure every child has access to high-quality programs that help prepare them for school. Under that goal is listed voluntary preschool for children academically at risk.
But the plan, adopted by the Roundtable two years ago, has been looked at only piecemeal by state legislators. The only pieces adopted so far have addressed high school dropouts and achievement.

Robinson, who is now a member of the Roundtable, said educators must remember that the problems seen in high schools have their roots in children’s early education.

Missing opportunities

The early years of a child’s life are the prime time to teach them, although many children don’t start kindergarten until they’re 5 years old, Pre-K Now’s Doggett said. Adults, she said, can go to college and get a degree in five years, and for a young child, the first five years hold even more opportunity.

“(Without pre-K), you’re missing an opportunity with children that don’t come to school with foundations in early literacy and early math and social and emotional skills,” she said. “It’s really harmful for the child. It’s harmful for your state.”

Children who are just learning to read and write in first and second grade will be far behind students who know their letters in pre-K and are putting together simple words by kindergarten, Doggett said. As each group of students moves through their academic careers, the students who attended pre-kindergarten will continue to get further ahead.

“Their reading is going to be more fluent,” Doggett said. “They’re not going to be working to catch up.”

Diana Parker, principal of Whitney Young Early Childhood Center in Fort Wayne, said although the school’s pre-kindergarten program just started four years ago, there have been some initial indications that the early education is closing the gap in achievement between minority and white students.

Starting this year, Fort Wayne Community Schools will try to track how the first students to attend pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten at Young perform on their third-grade ISTEP+, the state’s standardized test.

“Hopefully, if we look at them over time, we can see if there’s some pattern that says the gap seems to be narrowing in these groups,” Parker said.

However, she said, regardless of what the results are, the pre-kindergarten program can’t take all of the credit or the blame because there are a number of other factors that contribute to a student’s success.

Robinson said she wishes the district could afford universal pre-K, but without help from the state, it is unlikely. She said she wants to be optimistic about the chances that money will come along, but the reality looks bleak.

Niki Kelly of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.