School funding could be issue in 2007 session

Associated Press

— INDIANAPOLIS — The search for a way to pay for full-day kindergarten could renew an ongoing dispute between Republicans and Democrats on how the state should pass out money to school districts.

Democrats support minimum guarantees that ensure no district receives less than it did the previous year, while Republicans say districts should be paid on a per-child basis.

The current formula provides a basic grant to each student and includes a so-called "complexity index" designed to steer extra money to students based on factors such as poverty, enrollment in federal free-lunch programs, if they had single parents or parents who did not graduate high school, or if they were not proficient in speaking English.

"This budget forced many school corporations to cut programs, lay off teachers, increase class sizes or raise local property taxes," House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, said last week.
"In some instances, school officials were forced into making all of these unpalatable decisions, thus depriving children of critical services."

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said last week that he intends to pursue "significant" funding increases for schools but said he would wait for a state revenue forecast due this week before saying how much that increase might be.

Even rosy predictions might not yield that much more money, The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., reported Sunday. A 3 percent increase in general funding for schools in each of the next two fiscal years would cost more than $200 million.

That doesn't include $145 million Daniels has proposed the state spend to begin phasing in full-day kindergarten, or a planned Democratic proposal to make textbooks free for all students.
While new proposals are getting attention, some school officials say they are struggling just to keep going.

"We've had four very lean years," said Dennis Costerison, executive director of the Association of School Business Officials. "We need to make sure the school funding formula is developed in a way that meets all the schools' needs."

Rep. Terry Goodin, D-Crothersville, who will help write the funding formula for his chamber, said no school should get less money.

"In our formula, no district is going to get less than they did before," he said. "Everyone will get some new money."

Read more on school funding at the News-Tribune.com