BUNKER HILL — Gov. Mitch Daniels said most of the additional $207 million Indiana will receive from the federal government will be used toward education.
Congress passed a $26 billion piece of legislation last week that will provide $10 billion to support education jobs and $16 billion to help states cover Medicaid budgets.
Of that money, Indiana will receive $207.1 million to support 3,600 education jobs.
“If they send the check, we’ll cash it,” Daniels said during a Wednesday visit to the Miami Correctional Facility to attend a graduation ceremony. “We were fully prepared to stay in the black without. I frankly didn’t think they would send more money.”
The state will use the money “the best we can,” he said, adding most will go toward education.
“I wish [Congress] had not added to the debt we’re leaving to young people,” Daniels continued. “I wish they had sent it without all these strings attached, so we could use it for the things that matter most.”
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Daniels said he was hopeful Indiana schools won’t see deeper budget cuts in 2011.
Public schools faced a $300 million reduction in spending this year. According to Daniels, the state should be able to avoid further cuts in education even without the extra federal dollars.
Although state revenues saw a slight increase in July, the numbers were down from projections, but Daniels says he’s looking for a long-term trend.
“It just shows the national economy is still very iffy, and we’re not going to be able to relax our vigilance or our search for more ways to stretch dollars and limit spending,” he said. “Revenues have strengthened a little bit. We’re going to have to see month after month after month of steady increases before we can breathe easily.”
Regardless, he says, Indiana will get through this economic downturn.
“We’re one of only a handful of states in America that haven’t raised taxes and haven’t seen huge changes in services,” he said. “We’re here at the Miami Correctional Facility and all over America they’re turning prisoners out of jail early. We’re not going to do that here.”