INDIANAPOLIS — The focus of the Indiana General Assembly's summer study committee that met Monday is supposed to be the state's K-12 education funding formula.
After all, state lawmakers frequently struggle to strike a balance between directing more dollars to the growing suburban schools that need them and keeping high enough funding levels at shrinking urban and rural schools to prevent cuts in teaching staff, course offerings and more.
But the discussion in the afternoon's four-hour hearing was less about how to divide up the dollars the state has and more about what $298 million in funding cuts have meant, what $207 in federal aid will do for school and whether schools can afford changes.
The chairman of the Interim Study Committee on the School Funding Formula, Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, urged those who testified to avoid asking for more education funding dollars and stick to suggesting other ways state lawmakers could help schools.
"Money is an issue. We know money is an issue. Money is going to be an issue," he said.
But those who testified in many instances failed to heed Charbonneau's request.
"Revenue and spending will be a part of what will make Indiana a leader in this country or not," said Gail Zaharias, the public education policy coordinator for the Indiana State Teachers Association.
"... At this time and place in our history when things are so tough, and when states are looking at new and different ways to engineer themselves, schools are ground zero for this."
The testimony that perked up committee members the most came from Marvin Ward, the business manager for the Brownsburg Community School Corp.
He reeled off a list of money-saving moves his district has made, including freezing salaries — not just raises, but also the incremental step pay increases teachers receive for years of experience — and freezing or reducing benefits for the second consecutive year.
He said the school district saved $600,000 by settling contract negotiations with its teachers in March, which enabled them to cut out the incremental pay bumps for the year.
He said state legislators should alter the law so that schools don't have to pay the incremental bumps if a contract between teachers and the corporation is not settled.
He said requiring new employees to pay for their own background checks, cutting $150,000 from the athletics budget and eliminating school bus stops, which has resulted in longer routes, more walkers "and a lot more complaints" were other money-saving moves.
Still, the district had to lay off teachers and instructional aides.
When asked by Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, whether academics there have suffered, Ward said yes.
"We're very concerned about that. We hope we can keep it as far from the classroom as possible, but there's no doubt: When class sizes go up, when we remove aides ... the instructional program takes some hits."