The new year will bring a new session for state lawmakers in just a couple of weeks. The Indiana General Assembly begins 2017 with a new governor, and some new faces filling House and Senate seats at the state Capitol. Mindi Goodpaster with the Marion County Commission on Youth says some issues involving children will need attention, including increasing funding and access to Pre-K. She says the better prepared children are to enter school, both in terms of academics and social skills, the more likely they are to succeed – and she says that benefits everyone.
Other topics centering around children this session will be suicide prevention legislation that’s now being drafted, efforts to prevent sexual misconduct by teachers, and policies to help reduce the number of “food deserts” in Indiana.
Goodpaster says there’s a critical shortage of mental-health and substance-abuse workers in Indiana, and suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24. She says more training is needed for teachers, school employees and others.
The General Assembly begins with the Senate convening on January 3rd, and the House a day later. During the session, Goodpaster encourages people to attend or watch committee hearings online, and to contact their local representatives about issues that are important to them.