INDIANAPOLIS —
Indiana’s decision to increase funding for full-day kindergarten has led to an increase in students enrolling in kindergarten programs across the state and more state dollars doled out to local schools.
On Friday, the state will distribute nearly $190 million from a full-day kindergarten funding grant program, more than double the $81 million spent last school year, according to numbers released Monday by the Indiana Department of Education.
The money is going to 338 public school corporations and charter schools that collectively saw a 19 percent increase in the number of students enrolling in full-day kindergarten programs: from 66,401 in the 2011-12 school year to 79,110 students this school year.
The increase in enrollment and funding is due to legislation pushed by Gov. Mitch Daniels that put more money into a state grant program that helps qualifying local schools pay for their full-day kindergarten programs.
The legislation boosted the amount to $2,400 per student, almost twice the amount that schools got the year before. It triggered some schools to expand their half-day programs into full-day kindergarten, and allowed other schools to offer a full-day program without having to charge extra tuition to parents.
Terry Spradlin, director for education policy at Indiana University’s Center for Evaluation and Education, called it “good news” for Indiana.
“I think this will be beneficial,” said Spradlin, a strong advocate of early childhood education.
The extra dollars are in addition to money that local schools already receive through the state’s school-funding formula. Combined, it will provide about $5,000 per kindergarten student, Spradlin said.
The legislation that increased dollars through the full-day kindergarten grant program only extends two years, but some lawmakers see it as indicator of growing support for education.
“The increase in funding is critical,” said state Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, who sits on the House Committee on Education. “But just as critical is the policy decision that the Legislature made in identifying full-day kindergarten funding as a priority.”
“It was an important first step in the right direction, but it won’t be the last step,” Clere said. “I think there is growing support in the Legislature to support early childhood education as one of the most important investments we can make.”
The full-day funding levels for schools was released Monday by the Indiana Department of Education. It’s based on enrollment numbers for this current school year.
Attending kindergarten isn’t mandatory in Indiana, but public schools are required to offer some kind of kindergarten program to eligible students.
Some had opted for half-day programs or charged parents tuition for their children to attend a full-day program. In some communities, like Floyd County where Clere is from, local foundations stepped in to provide the extra dollars to the schools to support a full-day program.
“Access to full-day kindergarten was limited by financial means,” Clere said. “We’re finally moving past that.”
Spradlin and other education experts say full-day kindergarten programs give students, especially those from low-income families, a boost in their later academic success.
The legislation that doubled the dollars for full-day kindergarten guarantees $2,400 in state money for every child enrolled in a full-day kindergarten program. Schools were getting only about $1,200 per kindergarten student before the legislation passed.
The Legislature approved the temporary increase in kindergarten dollars for this school year. But in signing the legislation into law, Daniels said it signaled a shift in commitment from the Legislature to spend more dollars on education.
“This is never going away, and the finances of the state clearly support it,” Daniels said at the time. “This is not inexpensive, but we think it’s the next best investment to make in education.”
Daniels had pushed the idea for more kindergarten funding earlier this year as state revenues were rebounding. This summer, he announced that Indiana ended the fiscal year with a $2 billion surplus.
Earlier this fall, Republican leaders in the Statehouse, who hold a super-majority in both the state House and Senate, said they were committed to spending more state dollars on early childhood education. In January, when the Legislature goes back into session, lawmakers will be crafting a two-year budget bill that includes education spending.
Maureen Hayden covers the Statehouse for the CNHI newspapers in Indiana. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.
State News
Related Photos
-
Kindergarten students work on their projects in Mrs. Gayscott's classroom at Lapel Elementary School in November. John P. Cleary
Discussion
Full-day kindergarten enrollment up 19 percent after state boosts dollars to local schools
- State News
-
-
Court lets walk-out fines against House Democrats stand
INDIANAPOLIS — House Democrats who had to pay more than $100,000 in fines after they walked out of the Indiana Statehouse won’t get the help they sought from the Indiana Supreme Court.
-
Prison sentence of 12-year-old prompts new juvenile sentencing law
Three years ago, when 12-year-old Paul Henry Gingerich became the youngest person in Indiana ever sent to prison as an adult, his story gained international attention and sparked questions about whether children belong behind bars with grown-up offenders.
-
Ritz orders independent analysis of ISTEP results
Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz has hired an outside expert to determine the validity of ISTEP+ test scores of nearly 80,000 students who were kicked offline while taking the high-stakes standardized test.
-
State Education Department hires third party to validate ISTEP+ data
Indiana schools’ chief Glenda Ritz announced today that she’s hiring an outsider reviewer to determine whether the computer problems experienced by students during ISTEP+ test-taking should invalidate the test results.
-
State to lift decades-old ban on switchblades
For more than a half-century, the only legal access that most Hoosiers had to switchblades was viewing them in the hands of youthful hoodlums in movies such as “West Side Story” and “Rebel Without a Cause.” That's soon to end.
-
New law legalizes midwifery in Indiana
A new law that legalizes midwifery in Indiana has been a long time coming for women like Mary Ann Griffin, a certified professional midwife and advocate of home births.
-
High Court stays out of Indiana Planned Parenthood funding case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will not disturb a lower court ruling that blocks Indiana’s effort to strip Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood because the organization performs abortions among its medical services.
-
State won’t use free lunch program as poverty indicator
Indiana is changing the way it counts low-income students in public schools because Republican legislators suspect fraud in the federal school-lunch program used to measure poverty.
-
Report: State is both ‘leader and laggard’
A newly released report card on where Indiana ranks nationally in key economic measures shows the state is both “a leader and a laggard” in areas that signal potential for more prosperity.
-
Indiana’s high school grad rate continues upward
Indiana’s reported high school graduation rate continues to improve, moving from 77 percent to more than 88 percent in less than a decade, but there are still significant achievement gaps marked by race and income.
-
Schools chief Ritz on fast learning curve
For many occupants of the Indiana Statehouse, the week after the General Assembly wraps up its final frenzy of work is a quiet one. But not for Glenda Ritz.
-
SLIDESHOW: Governor Otis R. Bowen
Photos from the Indiana State Archives of the late Otis R. Bowen, who served as governor of the state as well as in the Ronald Reagan White House. The Bremen native died Saturday
-
Out of office, Lugar shuns retirement
One year ago, Indiana’s longest serving U.S. senator was rejected by Republican primary voters and forced into an unwelcome retirement from a distinguished political career that spanned 46 years. But at 81, former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar is hardly in a resting mode.
-
Lugar wary of Syria involvement
Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar has been out of office since early January, but he’s still being sought after for his opinion about foreign policy matters he once helped shape.
-
Judge grants class status to lawsuit again BMV
INDIANAPOLIS — As many as 4 million Indiana drivers could become plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has overcharged for driver’s licenses since 2007.
-
Budget deal includes little funding for criminal code reform
Facing the end-of-session deadline, Indiana legislators moved forward on a bill to overhaul the state’s criminal sentencing laws but left undone the issue of where local communities will get the money to implement it.
-
Legislators closing in on final budget
In his first four months as the chief budget maker in the Indiana House, Republican Rep. Tim Brown hasn’t been surprised by the long hours, multiple demands and intense debate that goes with crafting a $30 billion spending plan.
-
New poll shows voters tepid on Pence tax plan
With just days to go before the deadline for a final budget bill, a new independent poll shows Republican Gov. Mike Pence may not have gotten much mileage for his travels around the state pitching his 10 percent tax cut plan.
-
DOC hopes ‘cold case’ cards lead to solved cases
Indiana state prison officials are using customized playing cards for a deadly serious purpose: To help unlock the mysteries of unsolved murders and persons gone missing.
-
Indiana attorney general says Congress must act on immigration reform
Amidst concerns that the Boston Marathon bombing may derail federal action on comprehensive immigration reform, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller is turning up some collective heat on Congress to move ahead.
-
Disagreements stall criminal code reform bill
Negotiations over the final language in a bill that rewrites Indiana’s criminal code may come down to the last week of the legislative session.
-
Budget forecasters predict bigger drop in gaming revenues
While a gaming bill is still in play in the General Assembly, state budget forecasters are predicting the payoff to the state from legalized gambling will be even lower than they thought.
-
Legislature heads into final stretch
The Indiana General Assembly has slogged its way through hundreds of bills since convening in January but in some critical ways, the real work has just begun.
-
Criminal records bill passes Indiana Senate
Legislation that would allow some people with long-ago arrests and convictions in Indiana to wipe clean their criminal record has moved one step closer to the governor’s desk.
-
Court challenge likely for welfare drug-testing bill
Both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly have passed a bill that ties drug testing to welfare benefits, but if signed into law, the next debate may be on the question: Is it constitutional?
-
Push to roll back ban on in-state tuition for immigrants stops short
House Republicans who wanted to roll back a two-year-old ban on in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants have abandoned their plan to expand a Senate bill covering a much smaller group of students.
-
House committee OKs in-state tuition for some undocumented students
The debate over in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants is headed for the Indiana House.
-
Legislators working on funding plan for criminal code rewrite
As legislation that overhauls Indiana’s criminal code moves forward, supporters of the bill are working on finding funding for local communities to implement it.
-
Republican super PAC leader backs immigration reform
As the politics of immigration reform heats up in the Statehouse and Congress, a prominent Republican is ramping up his efforts to rid the influence of what he calls anti-immigrant “extremists” in his party.
-
House considers bill to shorten school day
Legislation that would have freed the state’s high-performing schools from the mandatory 180-day school year has been amended in the House with a provision to shorten the school day instead.
- More State News Headlines
-
Robot Action Connected to Human Thought
Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On'
Obama: US Has Helped Syrian Rebels
California Cops Cruise on Stand-up Paddle Patrol
Rain Damages Brazil Soccer Stadium
Transgender Candidate Running in NYC
NYC 911 Call Lasts for 8 Hours
Raw: 100K Protesters Flood Brazilian Streets
Man Who Disrupted Flight Ranted About CIA
Falling Cable Hurts 10 NASCAR Fans
Afghan Forces Take Afghanistan Security Lead
Feds: 7-Eleven Stores Exploited Immigrants
Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent'
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
Raw: First Lady, Daughters Enjoy Irish Sights
Today in History June 18
Oklahoma City Thunder Players Tour Moore
Raw: NASCAR Driver Jason Leffler Dies in Wreck
Iran's Rowhani Urges 'Path of Moderation'
Raw: Prince Philip Leaves Hospital After Surgery
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
WATCH IT: Lil Wayne tramples American flag
Mariah Carey Looks Beautiful in a Tiny Cut-Out Swimsuit
Out of Control Boat Throws Passengers Overboard
See Lindsay Lohan in Rehab
Sofia Vergara Posts Perky Backside Pic in Thong
Gaga Ditches Her Crazy Couture
Caught on Tape: Teacher Accused of Beating Autistic Child
"Stay Classy" Campaign Aims to Curb Binge Drinking
Sesame Street Tackling Tough Topic Parents in Jail
Miss Utah Fumbles Interview Question
Deranged man claims Newark-bound flight was poisoned
Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton Show Off Their Amazing Bikini Bodies
NBA FINALS: Spurs Win Game 5, Lead Series
Exclusive Clip: Jodi Arias: 'Dirty Little Secret'
Amphibious bus filled with tourists sinks
