Indiana

For those of us who offer 4K in Indiana, we are watching with interest. Not sure 4K can be a state offered program simply because as you work with younger and younger children, the individualization demands very small groups of children - sometimes one-on-one, and that is not what the state is about.

Fort Wayne.com
Indiana Remains in the Preschool Cellar

As Indiana prepares for a long overdue debate on full-day kindergarten, it’s important to understand where other states stand on early childhood education.

•Illinois lawmakers earlier this month approved a proposal from the governor to create a statewide preschool program for all 3-year-olds – the first such program in the nation.

California voters will vote on Proposition 82 next month. If approved, taxpayers with incomes of more than $400,000 will pay an additional 1.7 tax to provide preschool for all 4-year-olds.

•Kentucky legislators approved a request from Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher to spend $150 million on preschool over the next two years.
 
•Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, established the first cabinet-level Department of Early Learning, with bipartisan support for a $30 million pre-kindergarten program.

New Mexico, Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas, West Virginia – the roll of states wisely investing in their youngest learners grows. Indiana, meanwhile, stands with Mississippi, Utah and a handful of other states that have invested no state dollars in pre-kindergarten programs.

South Carolina’s sudden push for early learning comes not from politicians but from the courts. A judge there ruled in December that the state was not living up to its constitutional provisions to provide an adequate early childhood education to at-risk children. The state education department scrambled to identify what children should be served and how much it would cost.

Given the efforts of other states – by choice or by court order – to provide learning opportunities for 3- and 4-year olds, it is ludicrous to consider that Indiana is still mired in a debate over full-day kindergarten.

While politicians here argue over whether the state can afford to provide an additional learning opportunity for 5- and 6-year-olds, political leaders elsewhere have decided they can’t afford not to provide it for even younger children.

If Indiana is to pull itself from the cellar of early childhood education, it must at least take the first step to providing full-day kindergarten for at-risk children.