Story Created:
Aug 14, 2008 at 3:51 PM EST
Story Updated:
Aug 14, 2008 at 3:51 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels wants to funnel more state money into full-day kindergarten and a teacher preparation program — but Democrats question where that cash will come from in the tight economy.
Daniels said he would work with legislators to find funding if he is re-elected in November, when he faces Democrat Jill Long Thompson.
He wants to make full-day kindergarten available to all Indiana students within four years — an effort education advocates say would help children prepare for later learning. That would cost the state an additional $33 million a year, according to estimates from the governor's office.
Daniels also wants to use $5 million a year to expand a teacher fellowship that prepares math and science college graduates to become teachers in high-need schools.
House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said both programs are beneficial to education, but wondered where Daniels would come up with the money to pay for the initiatives.
"He must have found a pot of gold somewhere," Bauer said.
"It's much more complicated than just wishing and hoping for some program."
Long Thompson also supports offering full-day kindergarten to all students, said campaign spokesman Jeff Harris, but the state needs to grow the economy so it can afford to maintain such programs.
"These are just some election-year gimmicks," Harris said of Daniels' proposals.
Daniels did not specify how much he thought the state could afford to use for full-day kindergarten next year.
The General Assembly approved a grant program last year that allocated $58.5 million toward full-day kindergarten. The grants are divided among many schools, so they cover only part of the costs for many districts. Some districts charge parents fees to send their students to full-day programs, while other districts only offer half-day classes.
About two-thirds of Indiana students have the option of attending full-day kindergarten, said Jane Jankowski, a spokeswoman for Daniels.
The governor wants to move as quickly as financially possible to give all students access to full-day kindergarten, she said.
"It would be dependent upon a lot of factors and what dollars might be available," Jankowski said.
Daniels hopes to find $5 million a year in the Indiana Department of Education's budget to pay for the Woodrow Wilson Indiana Teaching Fellowship. The initiative gives math and science college graduates $30,000 stipends to earn master's degrees if they agree to teach math and science in high-need urban or rural Indiana schools for three years.
A Lilly Endowment grant already pays for 80 fellows a year, with the first group expected to start teaching in Indiana classrooms in 2010. Daniels said an extra $5 million a year would allow the program to cover 200 people a year.
"We need major improvement in the math and science mastery of Hoosier kids, and we need it now," Daniels said. "The way to get started is a new wave of math teachers who really know their math and science teachers who really know their science, trained intensively for a year in the classrooms of experienced educators."
