Gov. Mike Pence pulled the state's application for millions of dollars in federal funding for pre-k.
Gov. Mike Pence released a statement this afternoon defending his decision to not apply for a federal grant that could have given the state $80 million to develop preschool infrastructure for low-income three- and four-year-olds.
We reported yesterday that the governor stopped the application process, despite the work the Indiana Department of Education and other state agencies had already done to apply for the money.
The grant was only available to states with little or no state funded preschool for low-income children, making Indiana one of 16 eligible states.
In his statement, Pence said the state can meet Indiana’s pre-k needs without federal assistance.
It is important not to allow the lure of federal grant dollars to define our state’s mission and programs. More federal dollars do not necessarily equal success, especially when those dollars come with requirements and conditions that will not help—and may even hinder—running a successful program of our own making.
An important part of our pre-K pilot is the requirement that we study the program so we understand what works and what doesn’t. I do not believe it is wise policy to expand our pre-K pilot before we have a chance to study and learn from the program.
While accepting federal grant dollars can at times be justified to advance our state’s objectives, when it comes to early childhood education, I believe Indiana must develop our own pre-K program without federal intrusion. Continue Reading →
Gov. Mike Pence signs legislation creating a state-funded preschool pilot program.
Governor Mike Pence has halted the application for a federal preschool grant that could have provided the state with up to $80 million in early childhood education funding.
The Indianapolis Star is reporting that an email sent from Pence’s office to the Early Learning Advisory Committee explains his reasoning for pulling the application:
In Wednesday’s email, Early Learning Advisory Committee Chairman Kevin Bain, a Pence appointee, announced that the “administration has decided not to submit the federal pre-K grant application.”
He then posted a statement from the administration. “While accepting federal grant dollars can at times be justified to advance our state’s objectives,” it reads in part, “when it comes to early childhood education, I believe Indiana must develop our own pre-K program for disadvantaged children without federal intrusion.”
The deadline for the grant was October 14. A spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Education declined official comment but said the IDOE spent a lot of time on the grant application.
Senator Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, issued a statement expressing disappointment in the decision. “The Governor owes those of us who have labored hard to get our state on board and see the benefits of early childhood education more than just a statement,” Lanane said. “It seems imprudent that we reject $80 million because of fear of some speculative ‘pitfalls’ and ‘unproven objectives’ perceived attached to them. I fear this is a setback for the advancement of the welfare of the children of our state that we know will be improved by Indiana moving swiftly to implement early childhood education.”
The developmental grant, issued through the U.S. Department of Education, is available to states lacking pre-k infrastructure to serve more than 10 percent of the state’s preschool-aged population.
Only 16 states are eligible for this specific grant, including Indiana.
Pence has not publicly announced the state’s removal from the application process and calls to his office went unanswered. Earlier this year, the General Assembly approved a new, state-run pre-k pilot program, which is only available in five counties and will begin in most places January.
The Gary Community School Corporation owes its busing company more than $2 million to keep services running. The company gave the school district until Nov. 10 to provide payment.
The bus company that provides transportation services for students in the Gary Community School Corporation gave the district a Nov. 10 deadline to start payments on its almost $3 million debt.
Illinois Central Bus Co. CEO Steve Hemmerlein released a statement earlier this week saying the company told Gary Superintendent Cheryl Pruitt if the district didn’t provide a payment plan the company will discontinue service Nov. 10.
“ICSB cannot continue to pay for salaries, fuel and bus maintenance with no payment plan in place,” Hemmerlein said. “If bus service is discontinued, families of the 4,000-plus students will undergo significant hardship to transport their children to and from school, and the jobs of 100 drivers and staff will be eliminated.”
House Republicans announced their legislative priorities for the upcoming session on Tuesday, and education issues took center stage.
House Speaker Brian Bosma said the legislature wants to invest more in public school funding by “fixing” the funding formula.
“We have great disparity with some schools as low at $5500 per students in state and federal funds and some schools as high as $9,500 per pupil,” Bosma says.
To help close this gap, Bosma says he hopes to see the state’s economy grow by two percent over the next two years, because most of that would go toward education. Continue Reading →
The Indiana State Board of Education voted Wednesday to hold off on releasing 2014 A-F school accountability grades until their November 5 meeting.
The scores were sent out on an embargo Tuesday, but will now not be released for a few weeks.
Multiple board members expressed concern that data calculation errors for a handful of schools would compromise the integrity of the board.
“We’re being told that the comparative analysis is not done, we’re not ready,” said board member Brad Oliver. “I would rather have accurate data on November 5th than to just do this knowing we don’t have key pieces. These grades are going to be scrutinized by everybody. We’re trying to get it right.”
“It’s so important to them that we need to ensure that the data is accurate,” added board member David Freitas.
Prior to discussion of the timeline, the board heard appeals from three schools with atypical configurations. Those schools included Christel House Academy, Indiana Math and Science Academy and Carpe Diem.
This spring, Indiana students will take a new version of the ISTEP.
There’s an old phrase, nothing’s sure in life except for death and taxes. We could probably make an argument for standardized tests as well (even Harry Potter took an annual exam in his mythical, made up school year).
These tests carry important consequences for teachers, schools and students, and in Indiana this year, students will take a new version of the state’s standardized test, the ISTEP+.
Simply put, the test will be harder. The content of the questions is the same, but the format will look different. For one, there won’t be as many multiple choice questions. Another change is that students will have to explain how they got to their answer.
Why are we changing the test?
When Indiana passed its own academic standards this spring, Michele Walker, Director of Assessment for the Indiana Department of Education, and her team were charged with creating a test to match the new standards.
An assessment matching the new standards was also a requirement to receive a No Child Left Behind waiver extension.
Walker says another change the IDOE wanted to make to the test, is adding a more focused writing prompt. Rather than asking students to write about something inconsequential like whether the cafeteria should add cake to the menu, students will be asked to read a passage and write a paragraph or essay on a related prompt, using the passage for evidence. Continue Reading →
The board finalized its decision Tuesday at a meeting in Indianapolis.
Board members peppered Seven Oaks leaders Lindsey Weaver and Matt Wolf with questions about their initial charter application. Among the concerns:
Alignment of the school’s proposed discipline policy with its mission of “training minds and improving hearts. Board member Karega Rausch called the policy “consequence-heavy” and commented that it seemed “disconnected” from the school’s proposed classical model.
The school did not have plans to offer a lunch program for students. Wolf told board members the group had not initially budgeted for a lunch program, but said they had are discussed possible options in the case the budget did allow for it in the future.
The Seven Oaks board’s financial expertise. The group did not include any members with experience that charter school board members found significant for effective management.
The Seven Oaks board’s lack of K-12 experience. Although a number of group members have been involved in education activities – including homeschooling and classroom teaching – board staff took concern with their collective lack of operational experience.
Board staff did commend Seven Oaks leaders’ passion and dedication, as well as their plans for the school’s special education services and technology.
Ultimately, board members accepted their staff’s recommendation to deny the charter. Board member Karega Rausch says the deficiencies he and his colleagues saw from Seven Oaks outweighed the strengths at this point in time.
The Indianapolis community continues to make small steps in supporting Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s pre-k initiative, but the program has yet to reach full funding.
Rachel Morello / StateImpact Indiana
Pre-k is an important issue in Indiana this year. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard is just one of the state's policymakers who is attempting to make moves for the city's youngest students.
The City-County Council approved $1.7 million in funding for pre-k during their meeting Monday night. The money is part of the city’s $1 billion budget for 2015.
Pre-k funds will come out of the local homestead tax credit, which was overfunded by $2 million. Ballard had wanted to eliminate that credit outright to add $5 million a year toward his $50 million pre-K plan. Council Democrats voted that idea down.
Ballard had sought $5 million a year, which would have triggered a $2 million gift from the Lilly Foundation and a commitment to find $8 million more in private donations.
With just a third of the money potentially in the pipeline, a foundation official declined to say whether Lilly would still make a grant if the $5 million isn’t reached.
“We haven’t even gone that far in our discussions yet,” said Michael O’Connor, director of state government affairs. “This (the $1.7 million) is a positive indicator, but there are a lot of moving parts still.”
Earlier this month, the Lilly Endowment pledged $22.5 million to support two early childhood education initiatives – Early Learning Indiana and the United Way of Central Indiana. Both of those organizations plan to use the money to strengthen current preschool programs as well as build new ones.
Although policymakers generally accept the goal of Ballard’s initiative, not everyone agrees on how the program should be funded.
Indiana’s State Board of Education meets Wednesday, and they’ve put together what looks to be a pretty packed schedule. They’ll revisit some recurring issues (school turnaround), look to take final action on others (elements of the pre-k pilot program), and undoubtedly get into some back-and-forth on controversial issues (presumably good ol’ A-F school grades).
Let’s take a look at some of the items on the agenda:
Elle Moxley / StateImpact Indiana
Glenda Ritz and members of the Indiana State Board of Education will meet on October 15.
Approval of proposed rule language on Pre-K Accreditation. Preparations for the state’s pre-k pilot program are well underway, and a key element of implementation is helping providers in the five participating counties get ready. The board will look at new legal language describing which providers have the proper credentials to actually participate in the program. Remember that providers also have to qualify as a Level 3 or 4, the top two levels on the state’s Paths to QUALITY rating system. Public hearings on the proposed language will be held in late November and early December.
This is an update from a story we posted on Thursday, October 2. You can find the original story here.
According to a pro-charter school advocacy group, Indiana’s public charter school sector is among the best in the nation.
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released its inaugural report last week of what it considers the “healthiest” charters. The District of Columbia and Louisiana topped the list; Indiana came in at number seven.
The report looked at characteristics like growth, innovation and quality – but critics say those measurements are flawed because researchers did not accurately compare charters and traditional public schools.
[T]o critics, the rankings do little more than build on the Alliance’s previous work, indicating how friendly a state is to charter schools but not enough about which is truly the best in terms of academic quality. They also argued the rankings set a low bar for academic quality by comparing charter schools with local public districts, many of which are struggling urban schools, rather than with top-performing schools elsewhere.
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