Agreed Indiana Budget Bill Includes 2.5% Increase For K-12 Education

Republicans are lauding the major increase in educations pending, but Democrats wanted a guaranteed teacher pay increase.

Indiana Statehouse

(Indianapolis, Ind.) – Indiana’s Republican lawmakers agree to a budget including $763 million in new funding for K-12 education, but Democrats are unhappy the spending plan does not include guaranteed teacher pay raises.

The budget bill expected to be approved in the GOP-controlled House and Senate on Wednesday increases school funding by 2.5 percent each of the next two years.

Governor Eric Holcomb said the bill has the shared priorities of his administration and the House and Senate: passing a balanced two-year budget to protect Indiana’s AAA credit rating and increasing K-12 funding as much as possible.

“This budget proposal does both,” he said in a statement. “I appreciate the hard work of all of our colleagues as we near the end of this legislative session.”

House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) said the budget proposal holds the line on spending and maintaining reserves.

“We responsibly boosted investments in public K-12 education, school safety and proven workforce programs. Republican leaders in the House and Senate along with Gov. Eric Holcomb worked hard to meet the state’s needs and maintain a structurally balanced budget,” he added.

About $224 million of the education funding increase will go toward private school vouchers and charter schools. Nearly $75 million of that portion will go to programs like teacher appreciations grants, English as a second language, and a school safety grant program. 

But Democrats had demanded that an automatic five percent raise for all Indiana teachers be included in the budget. State Senator Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) said the budget prioritizes funding for charter and voucher schools over public education.

“It is disingenuous for the Republicans to say they support teachers and are adequately funding education when those numbers just don’t add up. They certainly did not put their money where their mouth is. This budget does not allocate one dime to raise teacher pay, despite the Democrats having a funding plan,” said Taylor.

Democratic proposals called on suspending corporate tax cuts or tapping into the state’s $2 billion in cash reserves to direct money to schools for improving teacher salaries.

Republicans opted for keeping teacher pay decisions in the hands of local school boards. The budget will pay off $150 million in school district pension liabilities, freeing up funding school boards to award raises to current teachers if they choose. The teacher appreciation grants may also boost pay for some educators.

Holcomb has assembled a commission to investigate long-term solutions to increasing Indiana teacher pay. The task force’s recommendations, however, are not due until just before the next budget-making session in 2021.

The Indiana State Teachers Association said Tuesday it appreciated the largest school funding increase in 11 years. But the state’s largest teachers union wanted more.

“ISTA presented reasonable goals for funding increases to the legislature, however, policymakers remain unwilling to expand revenue to address long-term public education funding issues and teacher pay. Our members are just getting started and will continue advocacy efforts into the future,” said ISTA president Teresa Meredith.

The budget also directs a major boost in funding to the Indiana Department of Child Services. The troubled agency had requested nearly $300 million in new funding each year of the two-year budget in order to keep new caseworkers on the job. The proposed spending plan allocates $251 million more per year.

State Senator David Niezgodski (D-South Bend) was disheartened that an adoption subsidy was taken out of the budget at the last minute.

“I have worked all session to get mandatory adoption subsidy language signed into law. Adoptive families across the state have reached out to my office underscoring the immediate need for substantial support for the special needs children they adopt,” he said.

The governor is expected to sign off on the budget bill later this week. 

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