INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana House committee on Tuesday advanced Gov. Joe Kernan's proposal to expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten after educators told lawmakers the program would provide lasting benefits to children.
After three hours of testimony, including a pitch from Kernan himself, the House Education Committee endorsed the plan 10-4. Because of its costs, it must clear the House Ways and Means Committee before reaching the full, Democrat-controlled House.
''We will be shortchanging our children if we do not do this today,'' Kernan said. ''A child is only 5 years old once. If not now, when?''
Governors rarely testify before legislative committees, although the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon did it on occasion, including twice in 1999 in his own quest for full-day kindergarten.
Kernan's proposal would extend full-day kindergarten to 20,000 more kids beginning this fall and then make it available statewide by 2007.
Kernan needs legislative action to start the program, to be paid for at first with a mix of gambling tax revenue and a fund school districts use to finance building projects. It would cost about $150 million a year when fully implemented.
All four no votes came from Republicans, who have concerns about the state starting an expensive program when it faces a $1 billion deficit. However, some Republicans still voted to advance the bill, saying there might be time this session to come up with an alternative funding source.
Education officials, teachers and parents from all over the state told lawmakers full-day kindergarten would help students prepare for the first grade.
Jonathan Plucker, with the Indiana Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, said full-day kindergarten would help disadvantaged students the most.
''That's where you see the most immediate benefit,'' Plucker said.
At the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation, full-day kindergarten was stopped this year because of budget cuts. The program had been offered in all schools there since 1986.
Superintendent Bart McCandless said kindergarten attendance rates have dropped from 95 percent to 88 percent because working parents can't transport their children to and from school in the middle of the day.
''This has been a devastating issue for our community,'' he said. ''You can imagine how far behind these students will be.''
Angela Watkins, a single mother of 6-year-old twins, said her children wouldn't learn as much if they weren't in a full-day kindergarten program. ''With two babies and no help, they would be behind,'' she said. ''They would struggle when they got to first grade.''
With the full-day program, however, Watkins has the time to go to job training in the day and doesn't have to worry about providing transportation and day care for her children, who she says are learning more in full-day kindergarten. She said she didn't know where her kids would be if they weren't in the program.
''I don't have to worry about child care, and my children are getting a head start,'' she said.
Democratic House Speaker Pat Bauer, who sponsored the bill, said the plan's funding would work, even as the state deals with financial problems.
''Admittedly, this is not the best of times,'' Bauer said. ''I believe the funding source is viable.''112--¦3&+â-¦?N_Kernan AP_1/21/04DNEditorial112SORT.+â-ä2AUDT
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