INDIANAPOLIS —Gov. Mitch Daniels and Republican state legislative leaders said this morning that they intend to increase education spending overall, and fund full-day kindergarten everywhere, in Indiana’s next budget.
A new revenue forecast due out later this morning is expected to show that Indiana will have more money to spend over the next two-year budget period than lawmakers thought they’d have when the legislative session began.
Therefore, Daniels said, he wants to increase overall education funding by $150 million over two years.
About a fourth of that, he said, will go to fully fund all-day kindergarten, which is now funded at about three-fourths of the state’s schools. Another smaller fund of $5 to $10 million, he said, will go to merit pay for teachers. And the rest will go into the regular funding formula.
“At this state, we’re the only state that I know of proposing to increase K-12. Many other states are proposing very deep cuts, way beyond anything we’ve seen in Indiana. We think this is the right thing to do,” Daniels said.
He made the announcement alongside House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne.
Bosma said the desire to make early childhood education a high priority came the strongest from his caucus, while the push for extra pay for the best teachers came from the Senate.
Full-day kindergarten has been a Daniels priority since he took office in 2005, and Friday, Daniels called it an idea that has “broad support across the education spectrum.”
However, before the state was able to offer it everywhere, “the recession brought it to a screeching halt,” he said.
The economic downturn has sapped Indiana’s tax collections in recent years, forcing millions in state agency spending cuts.
In December 2009, Daniels ordered a $300 million, or 3 percent, cut in education funding over the remaining 18 months of that budget period.
“I’ve been eager to finish that job,” Daniels said.
Full-day kindergarten will not be mandatory, Daniels said, “but almost 100 percent of families choose it.”
The new revenue report, which will show that lawmakers can spend a little more than the $27.9 billion they’d expected over the next two years, is due out Friday.
It’s not yet clear how much of the extra money will go to education and how much will be set aside to rebuild the state’s reserves.
But, of his plan to set aside part of that money for education, Daniels said: “This is prudent and leaves a lot of room for error.”
“The budget as it’s shaping up is a very solid and strong one for Indiana, and the prospect of somewhat greater revenues to come, I think, means that we can improve it further,” Daniels said.