The state's largest early learning nonprofit says 2019 was a year of progress and should set up 2020 to be "transformative" for early learning providers and families looking for improved access.

Enrollment is open for the state-funded preschool program aimed at low-income families. For the first time seats are available in all 92 counties as part of On My Way Pre-K.

The National Institute for Early Education Research says On My Way Pre-K no longer meets its definition of a state-funded program.

Early childhood education advocates have pressed lawmakers to make the move leading up to this year's session, and the state recently received a federal grant to study and build up birth through five early learning systems in the state.

The bill would expand eligibility requirements allowing children living with a grandparent or a guardian who has a disability to participate in On My Way Pre-K.

The Family and Social Services Administration announced the recipients of more than $1.5 million in grant money this week, for expanding the capacity of early learning across the state.

On this year's State of Preschool report from The National Institute for Early Education Research, Indiana ranked second to last for state funded pre-K access for four year olds.

More than 27,000 low-income kids in Indiana don't have access to quality pre-K. But the state is slowly starting to change that.

The state hopes grant money set aside by lawmakers in the 2017 legislative session will help expand access to and the quality of preschool programs.

Those counties are: Bartholomew, Delaware, Elkhart, Howard, Kosciusko, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, St. Joseph, and Tippecanoe counties