Ind. Senate panel weighs preschool pilot program

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - - The Indiana House Education Committee's chairman is asking state senators to approve his plan to send more 4-year-olds to preschool.

Rep. Bob Behning wants the state to spend $7 million a year on a pilot program that would pay for about 1,000 students from five Indiana counties to attend preschool.

The Senate Education and Career Development Committee will consider the measure Wednesday afternoon.

The measure was tweaked somewhat in making its way through the House of Representatives last month. The idea of providing more early childhood education has won broad support in Indiana over the past few years.

Behning said he and others were struck by how infrequently the average child from a low-income family was read to before being enrolled in kindergarten.