House passes kindergarten bill

INDIANAPOLIS -- With help from Republicans on Thursday, the Democrat-controlled Indiana House passed a retooled version of Gov. Joe Kernan's plan to expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten.\nThe House approved the bill 56-40 and sent it to the Republican-controlled Senate, where its prospects seem dim. Among other objections, Senate Republican leaders say a state facing a $1 billion deficit and other money problems should not start an expensive new program.\nBut like the Democratic governor, House Democrats touted full-day kindergarten as a needed investment in the state's children and future and said the plan to jump-start its expansion was affordable.\n"Now is the day, now is the time," House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said in urging members to vote yes. All 48 Democrats present and eight Republicans did so.\nKernan, who is running for a full term this year, hailed the House's action while looking toward the Senate.\n"This vote shows a bipartisan commitment to continuing this discussion on providing Hoosier kids with the best opportunities for success," Kernan said.\nThe plan would expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten to 20,000 more students beginning this fall and make it available statewide in 2007. It assumes that through at least 2007 many parents would pay $500 a year to supplement state funding for their children to attend.\nEventually, the state would pick up all the expenses at an annual cost of about $150 million a year.\nTo jump-start the program, Kernan asked lawmakers to divert $30 million in lottery profits and casino taxes each of the next three years from a teacher pension fund and spend it on full-day kindergarten.\nHouse Democrats, citing concerns about diverting money away from teacher pensions, changed that part of the plan. Much of the initial funding to schools would now come via loans from the Common School Fund. The fund now is primarily used to provide low-interest loans for school building and technology projects.\nTaking full-day kindergarten statewide in 2007 relies on passage of a constitutional amendment so lawmakers could appropriate money directly from the fund. Legislation to start the process is expected to pass the House next week.\nMany Republicans have criticized what some of them call the "hodgepodge" funding portion of the plan. They say it is too complex and will fall short of meeting actual costs.\nRep. Sue Scholer of West Lafayette, one of the eight Republicans who voted for the bill, said the early learning benefits of full-day kindergarten were clear. But, she said, "Let's be honest and say we don't have a sustained funding mechanism for this."\nRep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, said the state was broke and it was irresponsible to "spend money you don't have."\n"If you are broke, you don't buy a new car, you don't buy a new house, you don't continue to spend money on your credit card," he said.\nDemocrats describe the funding plan in such terms as innovative and creative. And as Bauer did again Thursday, they note that many Republican leaders have said they support the concept of full-day kindergarten.\n"Leading figures in both parties espouse that they are for full-day kindergarten, and now they can prove it by supporting this bill," Bauer said in obvious reference to Senate Republicans.