IPS: Some families must pay for pre-K after budget cuts
Some Indianapolis Public Schools families will start having to pay for pre-K for the 2025-26 school year after this latest state budget didn't include increases to childcare grant funding and the district's pandemic relief funding is now gone.
The district alerted families to the change on June 3 and said it came 'after much consideration of the financial impact on IPS' caused by alterations in the state budget this legislative session and loss of COVID money.
In this latest state budget passed in April, lawmakers did not include an increase in funding for Indiana's popular child care subsidy programs, known as On My Way Pre-K, which helps give low-income families vouchers to use for child care.
IPS had been heavily relying on those vouchers, as well as COVID-19 relief money sent to districts in the past few years, to fund its pre-K program, making it free for every family in the district for at least the past two school years.
However, school districts had to spend those pandemic relief dollars by the end of 2024, and the state announced in December that it would have to bring back its waitlist for the On My Way Pre-K program due to significant growth and not enough funding.
More on the waitlists: Indiana lawmakers expanded access to child care aid. Now there's not enough money
This latest state budget passed by lawmakers did not address those waitlists and instead funded them just enough so families currently using the vouchers wouldn't be affected.
Starting with the upcoming school year, IPS is implementing an income-based sliding scale to help ensure the program can remain funded.
If families qualify and apply for the On My Way Pre-K program, they could still access a pre-K seat in IPS for free, if the voucher program has enough funding. Some families may find themselves on the waitlist for this upcoming school year.
Here is the sliding scale that IPS is implementing for the next school year:
To qualify for a voucher, a family's household income must be below 150% of the federal poverty level, or for a family of two, earn below $2,644 per month before taxes.
More on IPS using the vouchers: A new requirement for IPS families seeking pre-K seats is coming next school year
For a family of four, the household's monthly income before tax must be less than $4,019 to qualify for the pre-K voucher. The child's guardian must also be working, going to school, attending job training or looking for a job.
The child must also be four years old by Aug. 1 and plan to start kindergarten next school year.
For families who need help filing out an On My Way Pre-K application, they can email reach out by emailing earlylearningdept@myips.org or call 317-391-1897 or 317-391-7643.
For families needing Spanish-speaking assistance, they should call 317-619-4279.
The district will also be holding an application assistance event from 2-4 p.m. on June 10-11 at the IPS Education Center located at 120 E. Walnut St., Indianapolis, IN 46204.
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