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:
Income-Based Sliding Scale
Cost (Per week)
Free (Qualifies for SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid Free — below 130% of Federal Poverty Level)
$0 (MUST complete On My Way Pre-K application to be eligible or have a CCDF voucher)
Reduced (Qualifies for Medicaid Free at 130% to 185% of Federal Poverty Level)
$100/week
Full Pay (Does not qualify for any of the above)
$150/week
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.
Contact IndyStar K-12 education reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter (X): @CarolineB_Indy.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis schools ends free pre-k for all families after budget cuts
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
24 minutes ago
- The Hill
California Republican drowned out by boos at town hall
Rep. Doug LaMalfa (Calif.) on Monday became the latest Republican to see a town hall devolve into shouts and jeers as he was peppered with hostile comments over the ' big, beautiful bill,' the Trump administration's immigration moves and other elements of the GOP agenda. At an event in Chico, Calif., LaMalfa's opening remarks were greeted with expletive-laden shrieks and boos. After staff distributed red and green placards to the crowd who packed the local Elks Lodge to register their opinions, the lawmaker repeatedly saw a sea of red. 'No fascism in America,' one man screamed at LaMalfa at the beginning. 'You need to be impeached.' 'I have many concerns, but one of the biggest ones for our area is the cuts to the Medicaid, SNAP, housing vouchers,' one woman said later during the town hall. 'There's this facade that we're not working hard enough and that's why we're trying to get free benefits. Everyone's working as hard as they can even to help their neighbors survive.' LaMalfa was greeted by another angry but smaller-scale crowd later Tuesday at a different town hall in Red Bluff, Calif. He again attempted to defend Trump's agenda, including cuts to Medicaid in the 'big, beautiful bill.' 'It doesn't cut a single dollar from people that do qualify,' he said, arguing that Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) administration had an obligation to ensure the state's Medi-Cal program was not spent on people who had immigrated illegally to the U.S. 'I think taxpayers work too hard to have their money go to illegal immigration.' As LaMalfa spoke, local news station KRCR captured a man standing at the back of the auditorium, making a mock-talking motion with his hands. He also wore a white shirt depicting Trump in a cage with the words 'Make America Great Again' surrounding it, mocking the president's campaign slogan. A few constituents did come out to support LaMalfa. 'I want to thank you for continuing to defend our rights,' said one woman, who identified herself as a Hispanic immigrant, in Chico. 'To those yelling, I suggest you get a passport and travel. You will see the grass is no greener on the other side. America is still the greatest country in the world.' The lawmaker, who represents a large swath of Northern California, is one of the five Golden State Republicans who could be pushed out of his seat by a Democratic mid-cycle redistricting effort meant to counter potential GOP gains in Texas during the midterms next year. At his Chico town hall, the California Republican said he opposed redistricting efforts in Texas, but argued that his home state's planned retaliation was worse for trying to bypass the state's independent redistricting commission established by voters. 'Texas shouldn't be doing that … this is going to start a grass fire across the country, every single state trying to change it based on a political outcome,' he said. 'California's difference from Texas is that they're going to be trampling the voice of those propositions.'
The Hill
24 minutes ago
- The Hill
The corporate tax-break spree meets federal austerity. Here's what states should do.
Chasing the next big things in manufacturing and tech, states and localities have given out special corporate tax breaks at record levels over the past several years. But federal austerity is about to force a long-overdue reckoning upon this form of corporate welfare. In 2022, the U.S. set an all-time record for individual factories receiving state and local subsidies of more than $1 billion each. That year, eight factories were given an average of $2 billion each. Engorged by five federal stimulus bills totaling $6.5 trillion, states and localities squandered some of their COVID-19 windfalls, enacting or expanding subsidies to industries such as data centers and movie production that are guaranteed economic losers. Others lavished subsidies on factories already gold-plated by Uncle Sam, such as electric-veh i cle battery plants in Tennessee, Kansas and Georgia, and microchip fabrication facilities in Ohio, New York and Texas. More states have enacted sales and use tax exemptions for d a ta centers, the capital-intensive server farms that threaten to drive up consumer electricity prices while creating very few permanent jobs. States such as Virginia and Texas are already losing $1 billion per year that way. In some states, data centers get local property tax abatements as well. Amazon Web Services has received two such awards totaling more than $5 billion. States such as Illinois have enacted new incentive programs by which workers will effectively pay their personal state income taxes to their employers — terrible policy that fuels structural deficits. Some states have enacted 'lard on' giveaways on top of the federal opportunity zone program — trickle-down economics by census tract. But now comes a winter of austerity. Trump and the Republican Congress are implementing deep cuts to scores of federal programs for education, job creation, small businesses, affordable housing, infrastructure, agriculture and workforce training. The full damage of the fiscal 2026 federal budget is not yet apparent, but state and local leaders will be forced to protect public services by taking a cold, hard look at all the ill-advised tax breaks they have on their books. Thanks to a new reporting rule, taxpayers will be able to help politicians find the money. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board's Statement No. 77 on Tax Abatement Disclosures requires most states and local governments, including independent school districts, to report each year how much revenue they lose to such tax-break programs. With seven years of abatement-loss data visible now, we can see some big losers and scary trends. Among those most harmed will be urban school districts; places with a lot of data centers; states such as Michigan that are still paying out tax credits for programs they long ago discontinued; and states such as Georgia, with its uncapped television and film production giveaway. But these places also have the most to gain from reform. Here is what to save and what to fix. Do sustain investments that benefit the most employers, such as infrastructure, K-14, workforce development and small business development. Don't subsidize industries that don't need aid, especially those that cost far more in tax revenue than they generate. Topping that list are data centers and television and film production. Never enact — in fact, repeal — any incentive that effectively means workers pay their state personal income taxes to their employers. Repeal any 'lard on' tax break you may have enacted on opportunity zones, and decouple your state income tax code from the federal definition of adjusted gross income to protect your revenue from the opportunity zones' capital gains exclusions. Amend your state enabling legislation for property tax abatements and tax increment financing to take the school share of the property tax off the table. For every other affected taxing body (such as transit agencies or fire districts), give them full autonomous control over their share of the property taxes (or other revenues) that might be abated or TIF-diverted. These safeguards will help the U.S. economy weather the coming federal austerity. Plus, they will reduce the risk inherent in economic development spending by curbing the 'too many eggs in too few baskets' problem of mega-deals.
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Abigail Spanberger, Democratic governor hopeful, unveils education overhaul plan as election nears
Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger has vowed to overhaul the state's education system. The plan aims to strengthen Virginia's K-12 schools as the state faces a teacher shortage and low rankings on its post-COVID educational recovery. In addition to addressing the teacher shortage through recruitment and support plans, Spanberger aims to ensure academic rigor while "modernizing crumbling schools." Additionally, she's looking to reject efforts to take funding from public schools and diverting it to voucher programs. "Virginia's kids deserve strong schools that prepare them for success – regardless of their ZIP code," Spanberger is quoted as saying at the top of her plan. The Education Recovery Scorecard found Virginia ranked 41st in reading recovery between 2019 and 2024, while it ranked 51st – behind all states and D.C. – in math recovery. Additionally, the state ranked 46th in math improvement over the same period. "The federal pandemic relief dollars may be gone, but the pandemic's impact lingers in many Virginia schools. Even without federal relief dollars, states could be targeting continuing federal Title I dollars and state dollars to implement interventions which have been shown effective, such as tutoring and summer learning," the organization wrote in a press release announcing Virginia's rankings. Spanberger isn't just aiming to bring more teachers into the classroom, she's also advocating for higher salaries for Virginia educators, which she believes will help "keep our best and brightest in the classroom." Education was a hallmark issue of Virginia's last gubernatorial race with now-Gov. Glenn Youngkin and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe debating parents' involvement in the classroom. This came as controversy erupted over heated school board meetings in Virgina's Loudoun County. Many cited McAuliffe's remark that parents should not tell schools what to teach as their reason for voting for Youngkin, who championed parents' rights. In March, Spanberger slammed Youngkin and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running for Virginia governor as a Republican, when they proposed public school funding cuts. She called the proposal "misguided" and expressed hope that "Democrats in our General Assembly will take the necessary steps to protect these important investments." Spanberger also appeared to take a swipe at Youngkin in a June interview with Dogwood, seeming to accuse the governor of playing politics with education. "We have to stop trying to pit parents against teachers or parents against educators for political reasons," Spanberger told Dogwood. On her website and in her education plan, Spanberger emphasizes her personal interest in Virgina public education as her three daughters are all students in the system. "As a mom, I'm so grateful for the hardworking, dedicated Virginians who make sure our children have a safe, positive, and productive school day. As Governor, I'll make sure our educators get the support they need to continue providing a world-class education for our Commonwealth's kids," Spanberger wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. The Democratic gubernatorial hopeful's plan also includes efforts to strengthen child care and higher education in Virginia. For higher education, Spanberger is looking to both make it more affordable for students while also investing in Virginia's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The state is home to several higher education institutions, including Virginia Tech, University of Virginia and George Mason University, among others. Its HBCUs include Hampton University, Virginia State University and several others. In her plan, Spanberger also says she's looking to ensure that Virginia parents have access to "high-quality child care in their area." However, this push is about more than ensuring good child care, it's also about improving the state's worker retention by helping ease the burden on working parents. Fox News Digital reached out to Sears' campaign but did not receive a response in time for publication.
