INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Two top Indiana Democrats on the ballot this November released a plan
Thursday for developing a state-funded preschool program that would be
available to all Indiana children regardless of family income.
Former House
Speaker John Gregg, who is running for governor, and state schools
Superintendent Glenda Ritz said their joint proposal would direct $150
million to a universal pre-K program that would be paid for with existing
money. Funding for the program would come from reprioritizing some state
spending and rededicating money budgeted for other programs that goes
unspent.
Overhauling the
state’s much maligned ISTEP test to make it cheaper while eliminating some
other costly exams is another set of examples they offered.
Another major
source could be federal dollars, they said.
Republican Gov.
Mike Pence championed the state’s existing “On My Way Pre-K” pilot program
that was launched across five counties in 2015 and has since sent about
2,300 low income children to preschool at annual cost of about $10 million.
But Pence surprised many in 2014 when he opted against seeking $80 million
in federal funding, citing concerns about “federal intrusion.”
“These aren’t
mythical dollars that Washington, D.C. prints up and sends back to us -
these are our tax dollars,” Gregg said. “The governor decided because of his
differences on an ideology basis with the president, he didn’t want to take
the dollars ... I don’t know who the next president is gonna be, but Ol’
John is gonna get every one of our tax dollars back. “
Indiana is one of a
handful of states that does not offer a significant pre-kindergarten
program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research at
Rutgers University. Nonetheless, the adoption of a statewide program has
proven politically difficult with tea party groups, some religious
conservatives and a network of home schoolers opposed to the idea, as well
as the acceptance of millions in federal money that could help pay for it.
While Pence
initially was opposed pursuing federal pre-K funding, he has since shown he
is open to the idea. Recently Pence wrote a letter inquiring about pre-K
funding to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services.
“Governor Mike
Pence is proud to be the first governor in Indiana history to successfully
shepherd a state pre-K program through the General Assembly,” deputy
campaign manager Marc Lotter said in a statement. “Governor Pence is
committed to expanding Indiana’s program in a responsible manner to serve
more children in need while also ensuring the state can afford to support
pre-k in the years to come.”
Gregg said Pence’s
shifting stance on federal funding comes at an awfully convenient time and
appears to be a “baptism by election year.”