Bill Text: IN SB0502 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Preschool education pilot program.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-01-14 - First reading: referred to Committee on Education and Career Development [SB0502 Detail]
Download: Indiana-2013-SB0502-Introduced.html
Citations Affected: IC 20-20-40; IC 20-24-8-2.
Synopsis: Preschool education pilot program. Establishes a two-year
preschool education pilot grant program to be administered by the
department of education. Permits school corporations and charter
schools to apply for a grant to provide funding for the operation of
preschool education pilot programs. Provides that children who are
three or four years of age as of August 1 and who qualify for a free or
reduced price lunch under federal law qualify to participate in the
preschool education pilot program of a school corporation or charter
school that receives a grant. Requires the state board of education to
adopt rules setting standards and requirements for the program.
Specifies the amount of a grant awarded to a school corporation or
charter school to be $4,500 for each child for each school year. Limits
the program to 1,000 children. Prohibits the charging of any tuition or
fees for a child who is participating in the program. Permits a school
corporation or charter school to use other money available for its
preschool education program to supplement the grant. Annually
appropriates $4,500,000 from the state general fund for the 2013-2014
state fiscal year and $4,500,000 for the 2014-2015 state fiscal year to
make grants under the program.
Effective: July 1, 2013.
January 14, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Education and Career
Development.
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A BILL FOR AN ACT to amend the Indiana Code concerning
education and to make an appropriation.
Chapter 40. Preschool Education Pilot Grant Program
Sec. 1. (a) The preschool education pilot grant program is established.
(b) Under the preschool education pilot grant program, a school corporation or charter school may apply to the department for grant funding to conduct a preschool education pilot program during a school year for any child who:
(1) is three (3) or four (4) years of age as of August 1 of the year the school year commences; and
(2) would qualify for a free or reduced price lunch under the household income guidelines established under 42 U.S.C. 1758(b) for a child who is school age.
(c) A preschool education pilot program offered by a school corporation or charter school under this section must meet the
requirements established by the state board.
(d) The department shall provide support to school corporations
and charter schools in the development and implementation of
preschool education pilot programs under this section.
(e) Tuition and fees may not be charged for a child's
participation in a preschool education pilot program offered by a
school corporation or charter school under this section.
Sec. 2. (a) The state board shall adopt rules under IC 4-22-2 to
implement the preschool education pilot grant program. The rules
must provide for at least the following:
(1) The priority for making grants under this chapter if the
number of children who would qualify for participation in
preschool education pilot programs under section 1(b) of this
chapter exceeds the capacity of the preschool education pilot
programs for which grant funding is available under section
4 of this chapter.
(2) An evaluation of each grant recipient's program.
(3) An assessment of each child in a grant recipient's program
with regard to readiness for kindergarten.
(4) Facility and program standards. The standards established
under this subdivision may not require less than those
standards for the highest quality child care that are
established by the division of family resources for a licensed
child care center.
(5) Requirements that school corporations and charter
schools must meet to apply for a grant under this chapter.
(6) Requirements that must be met for a child to be enrolled
in a preschool education pilot program.
(b) The state board may adopt rules to establish standards,
requirements, and guidelines in addition to those specified in this
section.
Sec. 3. (a) The department shall evaluate the following:
(1) The progress toward kindergarten readiness of each child
participating in a preschool education pilot program under
this chapter.
(2) The use of grants made under this chapter.
(b) The department shall make two (2) reports of the results of
its evaluation in an electronic format under IC 5-14-6 to the
general assembly. The first report shall be made before July 1,
2014, and the second before July 1, 2015.
Sec. 4. (a) The department shall determine whether a school
corporation or charter school is entitled to a grant under this
chapter. The department may make grants to those school
corporations and charter schools that will best accomplish the
purposes of this chapter. The department may not make grants
under this chapter for preschool education pilot programs in which
more than a total of one thousand (1,000) children in the state will
participate in each school year.
(b) The amount of the grant awarded by the department to each
qualifying school corporation or charter school under this chapter
shall be four thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500) for each
participating child for a school year.
(c) A school corporation or charter school that is awarded a
grant under this section must provide to the department the
following:
(1) The results of the assessment of each participating child's
readiness for kindergarten.
(2) A financial report stating how the grant money was used.
(3) Any other information required by the department.
Sec. 5. In awarding grants under this chapter, the department
may not:
(1) refuse to make a grant to a school corporation or charter
school; or
(2) reduce the award that would otherwise be made to the
school corporation or charter school;
because the school corporation or charter school used or will use
federal grants or loans, including Title I grants and federal Child
Care and Development Fund voucher program money
administered under 45 CFR 98 and 45 CFR 99, to fund part or all
of the school corporation's or charter school's preschool education
pilot program.
Sec. 6. A school corporation or charter school that determines
there is inadequate space to offer a preschool education pilot
program under this chapter in the school corporation's or charter
school's existing facilities may offer the program in any suitable
space located:
(1) within the geographic boundaries of the school
corporation; or
(2) in the case of a charter school, in the general vicinity of the
charter school's existing facilities.
Sec. 7. This chapter expires July 1, 2015.
(1) Operate at a site or for grades other than as specified in the charter.
(2) Charge tuition to any student residing within the school corporation's geographic boundaries. However, a charter school may charge tuition for:
(A) a preschool program, unless:
(i) charging tuition for the preschool program is barred under federal law; or
(ii) the preschool program is conducted by the charter school with funding from a preschool education pilot program grant under IC 20-20-40; or
(B) a latch key program;
if the charter school provides those programs.
(3) Except for a foreign exchange student who is not a United States citizen, enroll a student who is not a resident of Indiana.
(4) Be located in a private residence.
(5) Provide solely home based instruction.
(b) A charter school is not prohibited from delivering instructional services:
(1) through the Internet or another online arrangement; or
(2) in any manner by computer;
if the instructional services are provided to students enrolled in the charter school in a manner that complies with any procedures adopted by the department concerning online and computer instruction in public schools.
(b) This SECTION expires July 1, 2015.
