Dear Speaker Huston, Representatives Brown, Cherry, Porter and esteemed members of the House Ways and Means Committee:

We write to you, amid the most consequential legislative session in modern memory, to express our collective and continued support for On My Way Pre-K, Indiana’s existing early childhood education program, and to urge the General Assembly to consider a modest funding increase for this vital initiative as it crafts our next two-year budget.

We recognize this legislative session is unlike any other before it, and the challenges our legislators must address are myriad. As members of the Ways and Means Committee work to develop a biennial budget that will support workers and strengthen our economy, a moderate increase in the state’s investments in early childhood education can help put many more Hoosier parents and caregivers back to work.

The COVID-19 crisis has proven that safe, high-quality early care and education is the backbone of a productive, reliable workforce. Without it, parents and guardians across the state face serious barriers to fully contributing at work and helping to get our economy back on track.

The shortage of high-quality early childhood education options is especially harmful to low-income families, where caregivers are more likely to be essential workers and do not have safe or consistent childcare arrangements. Indiana’s On My Way Pre-K program, intentionally designed to benefit the state’s neediest families, served 4,100 children in the last school year, and expanding its funding to serve 4,500 students annually in the next biennium has the potential to unlock education and employment opportunities for many more parents and caregivers across the state. What’s more, research shows that children from low-income families stand to benefit the most from high-quality pre-k, and investments in their talent yield at least a four-to-one return to the state.

Finally, investing in early childhood education offers a life raft for members of Indiana’s business community, who shoulder the costs of childcare-related employee absenteeism and turnover. Even before COVID-19, the annual direct costs of childcare disruptions to employers across the state was a staggering $1.8 billion. These disruptions also cost the state an additional $118.8 million in tax revenue each year, per the IU analysis.

For these reasons and many more, Early Education Works – our statewide community of advocates – is committed to partnering with the General Assembly and the Family and Social Services Administration to support and stabilize Indiana’s fragile early childhood education sector. We are guided by the belief that if Indiana is to quickly and fully rebound from the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic and be a “state that works” again, high-quality early childhood education is a critical piece of our recovery plan and should be funded as such.

Indiana has made impressive progress to improve early childhood education access, quality and affordability, and we commend the General Assembly and this committee for the state’s investments to date. We are confident that with measured, pragmatic investments in early childhood education in this biennium, the General Assembly can both drive economic recovery and set the next generation of Hoosier talent up for success in work and life.

Thank you for your consideration and leadership during this unprecedented time in our state’s and nation’s history.

Sincerely,

Mary Chandler, Vice President - Community Relations and Corporate Responsibility, Cummins Inc.

Madeleine Baker, CEO, Early Childhood Alliance

Pat Heiny, Co-Chair, Early Childhood Coalition for Wayne County Kids

Nancy Green, Co-Chair, Early Childhood Coalition for Wayne County Kids

Maureen Weber, President & CEO, Early Learning Indiana

Dianna Wallace, Executive Director, Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children (INAEYC)

Jessica Fraser, Director, Indiana Institute for Working Families

Maureen Noe, President & CEO, Indiana United Ways

Michael Huber, President/CEO, Indy Chamber

Tory Callaghan Castor, Senior VP, Government Affairs, IU Health

Rebecca Carothers, Early Childhood Education Endowed Chair, Ivy Tech Community College at Fort Wayne

Mary Gardner, Director of Regional Impact, Leadership for Educational Equity

Sarah Williams, Public Policy and Advocacy Director, MCCOY (Marion County Commission on Youth)

Dana Berkes, Public Affairs Manager, NIPSCO

John Peirce, Consultant, Peirce Consulting LLC

Connie Bond Stuart, Regional President, Central and Southern Indiana, PNC Bank

Amy Lore, Director of Government Relations, Project Lead The Way, Inc.

Amy Waggoner, Senior Director, State & Local Government Affairs, Salesforce

Tara Barney, President & CEO, Southwest Indiana Chamber

Douglas R. Brown, Trustee, St. Mary's Charities

Connie Sherman, Executive Director, St. Mary's Child Center

Andrew Goebel, Member, SW Indiana Business Roundtable for Early Learning

Rachel Hathaway, Indiana Executive Director, Teach Plus

Cheri Stone, Community Impact Director, United Way of Bartholomew County

Ann Murtlow, President & CEO, United Way of Central Indiana

Meredith Howell, Regional Director, Visually Impaired Preschool Services (VIPS Indiana)