There may be a lot of talk about education reform in Indiana right now, but it’s become increasingly clear that Tony Bennett, the new superintendent of instruction, won’t be emphasizing early childhood. And he’s citing the usual issue: lack of money.
Pre-k not at the top of Indy's reform agenda
Indiana has long trailed other states when it comes to public support of pre-kindergarten; it’s one of just eight in the U.S. that don’t fund it at all, according to NIEER. In addition, the Indianapolis Star reported recently, Indiana’s state laws don’t even require children to begin school until the fall when they turn seven.
While there’s new legislation introduced that would lower the age, financial issues could interfere.
“I would always say I support early childhood education, and when the economic climate affords itself, we must afford ourselves the opportunity to finish the job,” Bennett said in a recent interview with the Courier Press.
A recent piece by Scott Elliott in the Indy Star called pre-kindergarten “the missing piece in Indiana education reform.”
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at 9:46 pm
Hello! Popped over here from Joanne Jacobs’ blog.
Currently I have two children in special needs preschool in the Kansas City metro area. One is mostly non-verbal autistic. (Well, he’s completely autistic, but mostly non-verbal. Ha.) We LOVE the preschool. I can’t say enough good things about it. Though I don’t imagine that children who are *not* disabled need formal education of any kind at the age of four. I have an older child who missed preschool entirely and is quite literate, able to work with numbers, and aside from being 17, a pretty well-adjusted young lad.
In your article, you wrote that “Indiana’s state laws don’t EVEN require children to begin school until the fall when they turn seven,” (emphasis mine) as though this were some sort of shocking thing. I should imagine attendance requirements and funding could be two different animals. Missouri has had public school kindergarten AND a compulsory education age of seven for years and years, at least. I can’t imagine children in Indiana can not go to school until they are seven??
Perhaps I’m reading way too much into that comment about attendance requirements, but the phrase struck me as quite odd.