If Indiana lawmakers had $23.5 million available to spend on schools, investing it in full-day kindergarten would do more to ensure third-graders can read than holding struggling students back in school.

The state doesn’t have $23.5 million to spend, so the debate is academic. But lawmakers should know that investing in early childhood education is a better and less-costly way to ensure children succeed in school.

Senate Bill 258, authored by newly appointed Senate Education Committee Chairman Dennis Kruse, would prohibit schools from promoting a student who is not reading at grade level by the end of grade 3 and require them to provide intensive reading interventions. The legislation was quickly embraced by Tony Bennett, the state superintendent of public instruction. Gov. Mitch Daniels singled it out as the only education initiative mentioned in his State of the State address on Tuesday.

The sudden interest in “social promotion” is akin to last year’s school discipline bill, which wrongly asserted that Indiana classrooms were places – in the governor’s words – of “disorder and chaos.” That issue played well with Hoosiers who haven’t been in a classroom for many years, but it was hardly the top issue for schools. In fact, evaluation teams the Department of Education itself sent to struggling schools last fall remarked on the calm and safe environments they found there.

Likewise, the debate on social promotion – the practice of promoting a student to the next grade in spite of lagging skills – might play well politically, but it isn’t a pressing concern.

Steve Brace, executive director of the Fort Wayne Education Association, said the problem with the social promotion debate is that it falls to extremes – the one that the bill’s supporters espouse and one that dictates that no child should ever be held back.

“Teachers would like to see something in the middle,” he said, noting that schools should have more leeway in retaining students at all levels, not just grade 3.

The National Association of School Psychologists cites “a century of research that fails to support the efficacy of grade retention” in its position statement on the subject.

“Research indicates that neither grade retention nor social promotion is an effective strategy for improving educational success,” according to the statement. “Evidence from research and practice highlights the importance of seeking alternatives that will promote social and cognitive competence of children and enhance educational outcomes.”

School psychologists recommend alternatives, including encouraging parent involvement, implementing tutoring and mentoring programs and using ongoing assessment programs to monitor student progress and guide teaching. Most important, they emphasize early developmental programs, preschool and effective early reading programs to ensure students don’t fall behind in the first place.

Brace said he agrees that investing in early education is a wiser course than spending it on third-grade remediation. “Legislators are always asking us what works, but even showing them the results of full-day kindergarten has not prompted them to fund it,” he said.

Lawmakers need to focus on what works in preparing children to read. When the state someday has the money to invest, it will be a more cost-effective approach than fixing what’s broken.