Budget Boosts School Funding, Tightens Belt Elsewhere
(IIB Photo/Alex Brown)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowSchools would get an extra $150 million next year under Governor Holcomb’s proposed budget, but other agencies would face a year of belt tightening.
The Office of Management and Budget presented Holcomb’s two-year spending plan Wednesday to House and Senate budget leaders. The proposed budget would boost school funding by 2% the first year, while state spending on everything else would remain flat.
Budget director Zac Jackson says the administration asked state agencies to cut their budget requests by 15%. Budgeters then went back and backfilled some of those cuts to make sure critical needs were covered.
The proposal loosens the purse strings a little the second year, with another $77 million increase for schools and a $270 million increase for everything else.
While the baseline budget remains nearly flat, the proposal calls for a billion dollars in one-time spending, using federal pandemic relief money and savings from emergency spending cuts imposed last year. Most of that spending will actually take place before the current budget ends, with the early payoff of $300 million in bonds for the I-69 extension and a handful of building projects. The governor’s office says that will save Indiana $66 million. Holcomb is also reviving a plan to pay down teachers’ pension liability to free up money for teacher pay.
The new budget calls for $100 million to expand broadband, $50 million to build a new swine barn at the state fairgrounds, and a $280 million reserve fund for emergency building projects. The administration also plans to increase a grant fund to help restaurants and other small businesses stay afloat amid the pandemic.
The Indiana School Boards Administration calls the boost in school funding “promising.” But Gary Senator Eddie Melton (D) says he’s “deeply disappointed” the proposal doesn’t directly earmark money for teacher pay raises. Holcomb and Republican legislators have consistently said they want to encourage, not order, local school boards to steer more money to teachers.
Legislators will use the plan as a starting point for the final budget, which will be passed just before the enc of the session in late April.