Last month, Chalkbeat Indiana Bureau Chief Scott Elliott moderated a panel at the 2015 Summit on Out-of-School Learning put on by the Indiana Afterschool Network at which a key legislative leader called for new state funding for after-school programs.
A video of the conversation is now available online.
The high-powered panel included Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn; state Superintendent Glenda Ritz; Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson; and Melanie Brizzi, director of the Indiana Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning.
Kruse, who is chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said he agreed with advocates who are pushing for placing greater value on the opportunity for children to learn in before- and after-school programs. Currently $800,000 in state funds is available to support such programs, along with $20 million from the federal government.
Kruse said there should be more state support and offered to author a bill that would do so.
“I buy into this totally, 100 percent,” he said
Watch the 30-minute discussion here: