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.”

“Rates for infant and toddler care, for instance, will drop by 10%. Rates for preschoolers between the ages of 3-5 will be cut 15%. And rates for school-age children will be cut by 35%.

The new rates go into effect Oct. 5, with the first pay date being Nov. 6.

[OECOSL Director Adam] Alson acknowledged some providers might drop out of the program.

“There’s definitely}a possibility of that occurring. That’s part of the regrettable part of this decision, right? That it does affect business models of child care businesses throughout the state of Indiana. There’s no getting around that,” he said.

“"We’re seeing the improvements … crossing all demographics, all types of students,” Keller said.

But officials said the academic consequences of ongoing chronic absenteeism remain. Keller warned that for some students, the problem compounds.

“There are some students whose absences can actually be measured in months and years, not just in a single school year, and that becomes a big challenge,” Keller continued.

IDOE’s data showed chronically absent third-graders had a 74% IREAD pass rate in 2025, compared to 89% of their peers who attended more regularly. In English and math proficiency, the gaps were more than 20 points. 

“When you miss a month of school, that’s going to show up somewhere else, and where it’s showing up is in student outcomes,” Keller said. “Outcomes matter and are impacted, at least correlated to attendance.””

The new data revealed that 87.3% of third graders — about 73,500 out of more than 84,000 students statewide — demonstrated proficient reading skills in 2024-25. That’s roughly 6,000 more proficient readers than a year ago and the highest rate since before the pandemic.

In 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General released a blistering report of Indiana’s growing ABA clinic landscape. The report tells a cautionary tale of a field with no billing caps, no quality control, no oversight, no parent voice, and audacious fiscal improprieties. According to the report, Indiana made at least $56 million in improper fee-for-service Medicaid payments for ABA therapies from 2017-2020.