Glenda Ritz sets sights on universal pre-K program

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz is calling on state leaders to implement a universal pre-kindergarten program by 2020, an endeavor she estimates would cost the state $150 million a year.

Ritz highlighted the proposal in releasing her legislative priorities Tuesday — months ahead of the next General Assembly session but amid an increasingly tense race for governor between Republican Gov. Mike Pence and Democrat John Gregg, whose campaign she is supporting.

Her announcement also came as Republicans prepare to meet Saturday in Indianapolis to choose a schools chief candidate to run against Ritz in the November general election. Delegates to the state GOP convention will pick between Jennifer McCormick, a school superintendent from Yorktown, and Dawn Wooten, a college instructor from Fort Wayne.

Ritz's plan to extend publicly funded pre-kindergarten across the state would constitute a major expansion of the $10 million-a-year pilot program now run in five Indiana counties.

She said more details of her proposal would be released later this week, but she said it’s her desire for the program to be available to all Hoosier 4-year-olds. The state’s current program is limited to low-income families.

“The funds are there if political will exists,” Ritz said.

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Last week, Pence indicated he would seek to expand the program if he is re-elected and is now open to securing federal preschool funding to accomplish that goal. But Pence and Republican legislative leaders have not said how far they would go in expanding pre-kindergarten access in 2017, when a new state budget is written. Even if Gregg wins the governor’s race, Republicans are expected to maintain a strong hold on the legislature in November’s election and would have to approve any new spending.

Pence on Tuesday said he liked the structure of the pilot program because it was "really focused at the point of need." About 2,300 students were served during the 2015-16 school year, either through state dollars or additional funding provided by Marion County.

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"I think that the framework that we created, which really focused resources on opening doors for pre-K education to kids who aren't getting the enrichment in the home, is the right path," Pence said.

Ritz, who saw lawmakers kill many of her legislative priorities this year, remained determined Tuesday.

“Regardless of the politics, I plan to get this implemented,” she said. "The department has been working on pre-K since I've arrived."

Ritz, a Democrat, argued the state can find the funding necessary to pay for the program within its current budget levels. She said pre-kindergarten costs can be supported from reversions state agencies already make to the general fund and by leveraging federal dollars.

Indiana should invest in a community pre-kindergarten coalition that would allow students to attend a public or private school meeting certain academic standards, she said.

"We're going to be working to fund high-quality pre-K programs, whether they be private, whether they be public," Ritz said, "making sure that all students have access."

Two years after passing up millions of dollars in federal preschool funding, Pence said last week he is now interested in the money. In 2014, Pence made a last-minute decision not to pursue $80 million from the federal Preschool Development Grants program, a decision Ritz sharply criticized. Pence has told IndyStar he would seek to expand the state’s current program regardless of whether he can secure those federal dollars.

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Because Pence initially decided to pass on the grant, Indiana didn't have the opportunity to use federal dollars to ramp up the infrastructure of its pre-K program, such as increasing the number of providers considered high quality, Ritz said. In Indiana, the distinction is given to programs that use an established curriculum, offer professional development programs for staff or have become nationally accredited.

"We're behind now," Ritz said. "We can't wait to do infrastructure first and then start to actually fill seats ... you'll see in the plan, it's a side-by-side approach, literally."

Beyond pre-kindergarten, Ritz said her department will work to close what she described as a “digital divide” in students not having equal access to technology. She also wants lawmakers to make further revisions to the formula the state uses to distribute funding to schools. Ritz said the formula needs to be designed to cover the "programmatic needs of all kids." The current formula relies heavily on enrollment and gives additional funds to schools based on poverty.

Under the current formula, "every single dollar follows the child," Ritz said.

"So when that happens, then we have even greater disparity amongst programs in our state," she argued.

Ritz said announcing her legislative agenda seven months before the legislature returns in January was by design.

“I told my department we need to be ahead of the game,” Ritz said. “We need to get our thoughts out ahead of time.”

IndyStar reporter Tony Cook contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Chelsea Schneider at (317) 444-6077. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyStarChelsea.