INDIANAPOLIS — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz is already pushing for universal pre-K funding in Indiana's next budget, saying it is imperative to helping Hoosier students.
Ritz unveiled the Indiana Department of Education's Imagine 2020 plan on Tuesday, which will look to add pre-K programs for all children in the state by 2020. Ritz said this can be accomplished if legislators decide this is an important issue.
"The funds are there if the political will exists," Ritz said. "Regardless of the politics, I plan to get this implemented."
Ritz said her office will release the budget details later this month but said the program, as she envisions it, would cost about $150 million annually.
Imagine 2020 is an attempt to get focus back on the individual children, instead of the schools. Ritz said high stakes testing needs to stop and school equity needs to return. She said there is far too large a gap between schools, which leads to some students succeeding while others fail.
She said the current formula, where every dollar follows the student, hurts schools.
"We need fair and adequate funding for all schools," Ritz said.
Ritz also went after high stakes testing, which she said needs to end in Indiana. Ritz is currently on a panel created to pick a replacement for the ISTEP testing program, which will end after the 2016-17 school year.
Again, Ritz wants the focus back on students.
"Tests have evolved to measure teachers, measure schools and measure communities," she said. "None of those things helps students. It doesn't help them learn how to read."