Ball State is hosting its annual Ball State Day at the Statehouse on Jan. 9. (Photo: Ball State University)
MUNCIE — Ball State University, which is hosting Ball State Day at the Statehouse on Thursday, is seeing its Cooper Science Complex capital project being drawn into a controversy over school teacher pay.
In an interview on Monday, Becca Polcz Rice, BSU's vice president for governmental relations, identified House Bill 1007 (http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/house/1007) as an important piece of legislation for the university in the 2020 session of the Indiana General Assembly.
It appropriates $291 million from the state's general fund for capital projects at Indiana, Purdue, Indiana State and Ball State universities as well as Ivy Tech Community College and University of Southern Indiana.
The bill earmarks $59.9 million for the Ball State project — demolition of 131,000 square feet of the outdated Cooper building and renovation of 162,000 feet of the structure.
Rice says the bill, backed by Gov. Eric Holcomb, changes the funding mechanism for the projects from bonded indebtedness (a type of of loan) to cash, at a great savings in interest payments (in the neighborhood of $130 million to $135 million).
But Democrats want to re-direct the $291 million to one-time pay bonuses for Indiana's school teachers. Their efforts to amend the bill failed.
On Tuesday, the GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted 13-7 along party lines to advance the bill as is.
Democratic state Rep. Melanie Wright, a teacher from Yorktown, said her party tried to be creative with amendments so teachers could get a pay boost while still paying off the university projects early.
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