How Glenda Ritz, John Gregg would fund $150M universal pre-K

By seizing "missed opportunities" with federal grants and redirecting "wasteful spending" from efforts such as school vouchers, Democrat state schools chief Glenda Ritz and gubernatorial candidate John Gregg outlined joint campaign plans to fund $150 million per year for universal prekindergarten.

The plan takes a dig at their political and policy differences with Republican Gov. Mike Pence, who initially passed up millions of dollars in federal preschool funding. This month, Pence made an about-face by expressing interest in federal aid for growing the state's $10 million pilot preschool program.

Ritz pitched a statewide pre-K program earlier this month but went into more detail Thursday with Gregg. The plan relies on seeking federal grants as well as "unspent" state dollars. They said they have identified more than $200 million in state resources for pre-K, including anticipated savings from ditching ISTEP and creating a new, more streamlined standardized testing system.

"What better place to invest excess dollars than back in our children?" Gregg said.

Ritz and Gregg's joint appearance Thursday marked perhaps the first public show of partnership between the Democrats. They were once pitted against each other during Ritz's short-lived bid for governor last summer, before she withdrew from the race and endorsed Gregg.

In their pre-K plan, the Democratic duo also proposed scaling back on spending for school vouchers in order to funnel more dollars toward early childhood education.

Known as the Choice Scholarship Program, vouchers help cover some costs of private education for low-income students. At its conception, the voucher program was hailed as a cost-saving measure, but Ritz said it has grown to be a greater expense to the state and suggested those funds could be allocated toward pre-K.

Glenda Ritz sets sights on universal pre-K program

Their plan calls for expanding high-quality public and private pre-K providers across the state, to be eventually available to all of the state's 4-year-olds. They expect that by 2020 half of all the state's 84,000 eligible students would participate in pre-K.

​Pence has also talked about expanding pre-K, but in contrast, he emphasized creating more seats for low-income students. He pushed for the creation of the pilot pre-K program, known as On My Way Pre-K, which has served 2,300 students in five counties.

But demand has far outstripped the available spots. In Marion County, for example, state and city funding met just 30 percent of the demand. Turned away were more than 3,000 of the county's youngest and lowest-income residents.

Pence balked at accepting federal funding for pre-K two years ago, citing fears of "federal intrusion." But he recently changed his position and inquired about the availability of federal dollars to build up On My Way Pre-K. He would also look into using state money and attracting philanthropic funds, said campaign manager Marc Lotter.

"He's not talking about using money that may or may not be available," Lotter said. "He's talking about growing this program in a responsible manner, both fiscally and in an area where it helps the children who need it most."

In an about-face, Pence expresses interest in federal pre-K grant

The campaign for Jennifer McCormick, Ritz's Republican opponent, said she supports expanding pre-K but did not offer specifics.

"Most important, however," campaign spokesman Pete Seat wrote in an email, "is that these discussions cannot and should not be driven by political finger pointing, but focus on what’s best for our children and their future."

With On My Way Pre-K demonstrating the demand, funding for pre-K is expected to be a key issue in both the 2016 election and the 2017 budget-setting legislative session. House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, told IndyStar he would like to see the pilot program grow and continue to focus on low-income students, adding that he didn't consider the Democrat plan to be fiscally responsible or sustainable.

"It's my hope this next session that we do a responsible but aggressive expansion of the pilot program to cover more counties and more students," he said.

IndyStar reporter Tony Cook contributed to this story. Call IndyStar reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.