Indiana Senate leaders emphasized their commitment to education Thursday with a budget plan increasing funding for both higher education and K-12 education. The plan, however, calls for a meager increase of pre-kindergarten funding.
The Senate budget allocated $358 million over the next two years towards K-12, about $85 million more than their House counterparts’ plan, and $76 million towards higher education, compared to $23 million in the House.
Their formula also dedicates more to high-need students, which boosts funds to mainly rural and urban schools. Democrats, like Sen. Karen Tallian, D- Portage, praised the move but said the budget could still add more money to the "complexity formula."
By comparison, the pre-K increase was modest. The House had originally set aside $10 million for On My Way pre-K. The Senate reduced that amount to $3 million, and added an additional $1 million towards a new online pre-K program.
The Senate’s plan also expands the pilot program to all 92 counties in Indiana. Senate Appropriations chair Sen. Luke Kenley said the state already provides $437 million every year for services to children under age 5, so he doesn’t see the need for a major increase.
“I don’t see why we need to rush with the pilot program that just kind of incrementally pushes it up a little tiny bit at a time when in reality we’re already providing pre-K for a lot of people which gives us plenty of opportunity to decide which way we want to go,” Kenley said. “So I don’t see a pressing need to do this today.”
Another thing missing from the Senate proposal: The cigarette tax increase, pushed for by the House and health advocates. House leaders inserted the provision into their version, after they dedicated all of the sales tax on gas directly to roads, leaving a hole in the general budget.
Kenley prefers to use that measure only if needed.
“At the present time, we don’t know where we are going on our health care needs and whatever the federal government does do in the next few years could create a big hole,” Kenley said. “Indiana could have a big liability so I think at that time a cigarette tax would be a logical thing to look at. But today, my feeling is, if you don’t need a tax, don’t enact it.”
Veterans and state police win out in the Senate’s budget plan, as well. State police would see a 24 percent salary increase over the next two years and an extra $3.1 billion would go towards veterans’ programs over the biennium, instead of additional tax breaks.
The Senate's $32.1 billion plan leaves $1.8 billion in the reserves.