“Strong connections do not just happen. They grow through intention, accountability, and teamwork,” said Tami Silverman, president and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that provides training and other resources for youth-serving organizations around the state to improve Hoosier children’s wellbeing. “FIVE by 50 focuses on building up the support systems around kids, so every young person in Indiana has trusted adults who cheer them on, open doors, and help them pursue their own best future.”

Data released Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Education showed 3.6% of the 84,000 children who took the statewide IREAD exam were retained in third grade under the first enforcement of a requirement approved by the Legislature in 2024.

Those 3,040 retained students are more than seven times the 412 children held back in third grade two years ago.

Education Secretary Katie Jenner credited improved performance by students in the IREAD exam given last school year with the retention figure being lower than anticipated when the literacy requirement was being debated.

“The numbers that were being thrown out is that it would be 7,000 to 10,000 that this law would trigger retention,” Jenner told State Board of Education members. “But, in fact, a huge shout out to our teachers and our people, we have thousands of kids who are now readers.”

In December, Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration announced that, due to the end of pandemic-era federal relief funding, it would stop enrolling new children in its main child care subsidy program, the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), and institute a waiting list. The number of child care vouchers available per month dropped by more than 17,000 from last December to September, according to the state agency. The waitlist now has over 30,400 children and the state has said it won’t issue any new vouchers until 2027. 

As school districts push to lower absenteeism rates, the software company SchoolStatus, which helps schools keep track of students and communicate with parents, examined four years of its own attendance intervention data across hundreds of school districts. It analyzed 3.3 million text messages across 15 states, representing 88,000 students and 22,000 educators. 

In a paper out Wednesday, it finds that improving attendance often comes down to a handful of basic tasks. Here’s a breakdown of the key takeaways:

The “America After 3PM” household survey, released Wednesday, found that just 83,820 Hoosier children are enrolled in an after-school program even though parents of nearly half a million kids would like to be.

After-school programs range from academic tutoring and STEM clubs to sports, arts and mentoring activities that give students a “safe, structured” place to spend time after the school day ends.

“Right now, 411,972 Hoosier children whose families want them in afterschool programs don’t have access,” said Lakshmi Hasanadka, CEO of the Indiana Afterschool Network. “Afterschool programs keep kids safe, help them learn, and support working families. We’ll continue working with partners statewide to remove barriers until every student who needs an afterschool program can be in one.”

The FSSA said current balances on EBT cards remain available for use. Hoosiers in need of support are encouraged to call 211 to learn about local resources and services available.

“The surest way to protect Hoosiers from a disruption in their SNAP benefits is for Senate Democrats to quickly pass the Clean Continuing Resolution,” FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob said in a statement. “Until then, families across Indiana are left in limbo — their ability to put food on the table tied up in political gridlock.”

Indiana will likely be on the hook for more SNAP costs in the future under changes from President Donald Trump’s administration.

States will pay a percentage of benefit costs depending on their error rates starting October 2027, and they’ll have to pony up for 75% of the administrative costs beginning October 2026. Those changes could cost Indiana up to $264 million more annually, according to FSSA estimates.

Enrollment in the federal Child Care Development Fund and state On My Way Pre-K programs peaked at 69,000 in December. That month, FSSA closed enrollment and opened a waitlist.

Vouchers have dropped to about 55,000 as of September, according to meeting slides.

Almost 31,000 low-income Hoosier children were on the waitlist for vouchers that month, up from about 29,000 the month prior.

About 80% of those on the waitlist in September were under the federal poverty line, compared to roughly 60% of current participants. New enrollees must meet narrowed income standards.

The 10-month freeze has crushed enrollment, according to the updated figures.

“If doctors can identify young children who are going to struggle more with learning to read as they get older, they can target those families with books and other support early on, Klass added.

“We’re hoping with…the books the caregivers are taking home, the child is learning a motivational lesson: ‘I like books. If I carry a book and give it to my parent, they might sit down and talk to me in that voice,’” Klass said. 

Klass said no one needs to tell parents to “teach” this idea to their children. The children will sort it out if they grow up around books and reading. A baby doesn’t want or need an authority on literacy to walk through the door and teach them how to read, Klass said. A baby wants their parent’s voice, presence and back-and-forth interactions. 

“Your baby wants to be on your lap hearing you read. Your baby will love books because your baby loves you.”’

“Stevie Pactor, an attorney with the ACLU of Indiana, warned that Braun’s threat could have broad implications for teachers’ speech.

“Teachers still have First Amendment rights when they’re talking as private citizens about matters of public concern on their social media or anywhere else,” Pactor said. “This idea of chilling their speech is absolutely where my mind went to.”

She pointed to a line from a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which asserted that “The First Amendment needs breathing space to survive.”

“If I were a K-12 educator, I would absolutely be very, very cognizant of what I was putting on social media in this climate, and to a degree that’s not really justified by what the law allows,” Pactor continued. “These posts are clearly their private speech. There’s no question that this is private speech.”’

“‘The things that our staff organizes to help families is above and beyond,” Walker said. “For example, we give gift certificates to the laundromat; parent doesn’t have a vehicle, we’re going to pick a kid up for school so that they don’t miss school; a parent doesn’t have insurance, we’re going to try to link them up with community resources to help them get insurance.”

Walker said the school has the Full Service Community Schools grant, which funds the opportunities to do extra things for families. The school also adopts families each Christmas season, does a survey to see what families need and buys those items.”