By Eric Bradner, Evansville Courier & Press
INDIANAPOLIS - As he braced Hoosiers for a potential state government shutdown, Gov. Mitch Daniels on Friday said he will use emergency powers to keep the most vital services - public safety and assistance - available, even if lawmakers don't pass and he doesn't sign a new budget in time.
State police and prisons still would operate and unemployment and welfare benefits would be paid. The Indiana National Guard, the state Department of Homeland Security and the state Board of Health will be on standby.
If there is no new spending plan in place when the current budget expires midnight Tuesday, Daniels said almost everything else would shut down.
State parks and license branches would close while more than 30,000 state employees are put on unpaid vacations.
Public schools and universities could continue their summer school courses, but would have to wait to receive checks. Prosecutors couldn't be paid, leaving officials unsure of how a shutdown would affect the courts.
Since no one would be available to enforce gambling laws, Casino Aztar and other casinos and horse tracks, plus the Hoosier Lottery, would have to close, too.
"I did not want to wait until 24 hours before this remote possibility could occur to let the public know what the consequences would be, and that we're ready if forced, and I stress forced, to do this," Daniels said Friday.
Lawmakers are mired in a monthslong battle over a new budget, with education spending dominating the contentious debate.
The Democratic-led House passed a one-year, $14.5 billion budget that spares nearly all Southwestern Indiana school districts from funding cuts.
But Daniels and the Republican-ruled Senate argue there's just not enough money to do that. The Senate passed a two-year, $28.5 billion budget that includes slight K-12 education spending increases, but they want the money to follow the students, which would mean cuts for many urban and rural schools.
Daniels and House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, have been engaged in a high-profile showdown as Tuesday's deadline draws near.
'Serious consequences'
"There are serious consequences in passing June 30 without a budget," Bauer said. "There are equally serious consequences in passing a Senate budget that will create lasting, devastating damage to our state."
An analysis of estimated school funding under both proposals shows, as lawmakers expected, that the Democratic budget would be better for local schools.
The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation would get $2.9 million more next year, a 2 percent increase, under the Democratic proposal. Republicans would boost funding for the district by only $100,000.
But other districts would lose money under the GOP proposal.
The most dramatic difference comes in Posey County, where small districts would stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Under the Republican budget, Mount Vernon schools would lose $234,000, or 1.3 percent, of their funding next year under the GOP budget. North Posey schools would lose $310,000, or 3.6 percent. And New Harmony schools would lose $133,000 - the biggest cut at 8.3 percent.
In the second year, the Republican budget would cut $1.7 million more from those three districts. Democrats would essentially flat line funding for each of those three districts.
Meanwhile, most districts in Pike, Spencer and Dubois counties stand to lose between $100,000 and $200,000 next year under the GOP budget, but would gain similar amounts under the Democratic budget.
Some schools would do markedly better under the Democratic budget, but would not be hurt by either version.
The Warrick County School Corporation will get at least hundreds of thousands more either way. The Republican budget boosts its funding by $481,000, or 0.9 percent. The Democratic budget increases funding there by $1.6 million, or 2.9 percent.
South Gibson Community Schools actually would do better under the Republican budget. It would add $95,000 next year, while the Democratic budget would boost it only $38,000.
Overall next year, districts in Vanderburgh, Warrick, Gibson, Pike, Spencer, Dubois, Knox and Daviess counties would gain $6 million, a 1.6 percent boost, under the Democratic budget. Those districts would lose $724,000, or 0.2 percent, under the Republican budget.