By Eric Bradner, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS - Superintendents from some of Indiana's urban and rural school districts with declining enrollments told state lawmakers Tuesday that the funding formula in Gov. Mitch Daniels' budget proposal would cripple their schools.
They told members of the House Ways and Means Committee it would force them to eliminate teachers, increase class sizes and cut programs.
The governor's proposed spending plan would boost state funding for education on a per-pupil basis, but districts losing students still could receive less money even while rapidly expanding suburban schools would get more.
But school districts losing enrollments would be spared from funding cuts under a one-year budget Democratic state lawmakers say they will propose Thursday, the first day of the Indiana General Assembly's special budget session.
Democrats who control the House restarted budget talks Tuesday, calling an informal meeting of the Ways and Means Committee. There, Democrats brought in the cadre of superintendents.
Eugene White, the Indianapolis Public Schools superintendent, said the cuts would amount to "cold-turkey devastation" for his district.
He criticized the idea that money should evenly follow students.
"The premise is that it takes the same amount of money to educate every child, and that's just not true," White said.
Mark Eastridge, Crawford County Community School Corp. superintendent, said the governor's budget would cost his district nearly $1 million. Added to rising health insurance costs, he said, it would mean more than laying off teachers.
He said his school district has hired a part-time guidance counselor who over the last two years has boosted the amount of scholarship dollars flowing to students who plan to attend college from $900,000 to $2.1 million.
His district, he said, also wants to tackle a renovation to give its special education program a full-sized classroom and a handicapped-accessible restroom.
Both would be gone with such deep budget cuts, he said.
"In Crawford County, we don't talk about frills or excess. We know better than to do that," he said.
"But we are here to talk about the basic needs of our students."
Gerald Jackson, West Washington School Corp. superintendent, said Daniels' budget would cost students class choices.
"I'm down to the point where I have to cut programs. If I cut a Spanish teacher, I cut a program. If I cut a French teacher, I cut a program."
Cathy Stephen, the Randolph Eastern School Corp. superintendent, said her district is expected to lose 61 students or so in the next two years.
"However, with this budget, we have to eliminate eight teachers, six aides, one administrator and one counselor. Kids in poverty need more time. They need more from us. And if we don't do that, we're only going to continue that cycle of poverty."
Rep. Eric Turner, R-Indianapolis, pressed Eastridge on whether he would support a statewide tax increase to bolster school funding.
Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, said tough economic times leave few alternatives.
"I just want you to know that there is no joy in talking about budgets that don't increase K-12 education funding. There is no joy in talking about budgets that leave higher education even worse off," Espich said.
"But the state of Indiana is 7.1 percent down from last year's income.
"I don't want to increase taxes on these people who are unemployed or underemployed, and I'm not going to."
Rep. Randy Borror, R-Fort Wayne, told White it's unfair that his downtown Indianapolis district receives more than $2,000 per student than Fort Wayne schools do.
White said IPS has unusual expenses, such as more than $6 million for a police force. But Borror said he still considers the difference unfair and would like to see Indianapolis schools receive closer to what Fort Wayne schools get.
Democrats said they would break with budgetary tradition and propose only a one-year spending plan for the state. It will boost education spending by 2 percent. But unlike Gov. Mitch Daniels' recent proposal, which uses federal economic stimulus funds, theirs will do so using only state funds, said Rep. Terry Goodin, D-Crothersville.
Ways and Means Chair Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, said Democrats will agree to five stipulations Daniels has set forth - no tax increases, no budget gimmicks, using stimulus funds for one-time purposes, maintaining a surplus of at least $1 billion and "spend a dollar; cut a dollar."
He said Democrats would offer details in writing of what cuts they propose in order to make up for the extra school funding during a Ways and Means meeting on Friday.
Most of state government will shut down after June 30, when the current budget expires, if lawmakers don't pass a new spending play by that date.