Lawmakers Already Looking To Expand Pre-K Program

Lawmakers are already talking about expanding Indiana’s “On My Way Pre-K” pilot program, even though the first phase of the program just began earlier this month. Both sides of the General Assembly will consider identcal bills that would widen the field of counties participating in the pilot.

House Bill 1129 and Senate Bill 344 recommend extending the plan to include the 13 counties originally selected as finalists that weren’t chosen as one of the final five.

Democratic Senator Earline Rogers wrote the senate proposal. She represents Lake County, an area that is already part of the program, but says she wants to share the enthusiasm she sees in her district statewide.

"There was an excitement there that I had not seen surrounding pre-k," Rogers said. "Maybe, with some additional dollars and some additional counties involved, we might be able to spread that excitement for early childhood education."

The senator is working closely with fellow Democrat Sue Errington of Muncie – who wrote the same bill on the House side.

Rogers says she would ideally like to see the expansion as soon as possible, and thinks this is the best time to make it happen since it is a budget year.