Chalkbeat Indiana: Limited funding means thousands of poor Indy kids won’t get preschool scholarships
Below is an excerpt of an article written by Dylan Peers McCoy for Chalkbeat Indiana.
Thousands of Indianapolis families vying for preschool scholarships will be disappointed this spring. More than 4,200 hundred children applied for spots in a program that’s expected to serve about 1,600 kids.
With studies showing that whether a child enrolls in preschool is an influential predictor of school readiness and long-term success, interest in a program that covers tuition for low-income three- and four-year-olds in Indiana has vastly outpaced the number of vouchers available.
Read the full article at Chalkbeat Indiana
A strong push for expansion is on the horizon. Preschool advocates are planning to lobby aggressively for more state preschool funding during the upcoming session, said Andrew Cullen, the vice-president of public policy for the United Way of Central Indiana.
After three years of pilots, the state has learned how to reach families and improve preschool quality, said Cullen.
“We’ve have learned a lot from the pilot,” he said. “That’s what the pilot was there for, so it’s time now to talk significantly about an expansion.”