Indiana

Indiana is dedicated to expanding enrollment of low-income four-year-old children in high-quality early childhood education. The On My Way Pre-K program was signed into law in 2014 to provide vouchers to eligible, low-income four-year-old children for qualified early education services statewide. Services may be delivered via public schools, licensed, or registered child care programs that have achieved Level Three or Level Four in Paths to QUALITY™, or via accredited private schools. The On My Way Pre-K program does not meet the definitions of a state-funded preschool program used in this report.

To serve more children and pay programs at current county cost of care rates, On My Way Pre-K co-funds some vouchers with Child Care Development Fund money for families that also meet CCDF eligibility requirements, with a percentage of total state allocated funds reserved for non-eligible CCDF families up to 185% of the federal poverty level.

In 2022-2023, On My Way Pre-K supported 6,231 children with over $37million in combined state and federal funding. This enrollment was a 30% increase in total enrollment, with over half of the 91 counties in Indiana showing higher enrollment numbers than last year.

According to the Purdue University longitudinal study, children who attended the On My Way Pre-K program had stronger school readiness, language and literacy skills than their peers with similar family incomes who attended lower quality childcare or prekindergarten programs. Additional research by Purdue University is studying the use of curricula in Indiana and identifying the key ingredients of high-quality preschool programs in Indiana. A second longitudinal study will begin in the fall of 2024.

Additionally, for a third year, On My Way Pre-K children from the 2022-2023 school year matched up positively compared to national norms established for all pre-kindergarten children in the annual Kindergarten Readiness Indicators assessment, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago.

On My Way Pre-K has stimulated the expansion of the number of high-quality programs in Indiana, affecting not only the 4-year-old children enrolled with state funding, but all other children enrolled in those programs. There has been a stable 92% increase in high quality early care and education programs for all children statewide since the inception of On My Way Pre-K.

In December 2022, Indiana was awarded a federal preschool development grant renewal for $14 million. Indiana seeks to create a vibrant and sustainable Early Child Care and Education system that is committed to ensuring children, especially those most underserved, arrive ready to thrive in kindergarten and beyond. While the Family and Social Services Administration’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning serves as grant administrator, the office collaborates closely with the Indiana Department of Education to plan and execute efforts along with partnership between many early childhood contracted agencies.

Indiana

Access

Total state pre-K enrollment	0
School districts that offer state program	NA
Income requirement	NA
Minimum hours of operation	NA
Operating schedule	NA
Special education enrollment, ages 3 and 4	11,754
Federally funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4	10,261
State-funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4	0

Resources

*Pre-K programs may receive additional funds from federal or local sources that are not included in this figure. †Head Start per-child spending includes funding only for 3- and 4-year-olds. ‡K–12 expenditures include capital spending as well as current operating expenditures.