Legislators consider school funding proposal that would ease money transfers

INDIANAPOLIS — State lawmakers will take a few days to pick apart and rebuild legislation intended to allow schools easier access to dollars that could be spent in the classroom.

The House Education Committee on Monday delayed a vote on a bill that would allow school districts to spend money reserved for areas such as transportation and utilities instead on costs such as teacher salaries.

The panel created a subcommittee to assemble several amendments to the bill to be addressed when the committee reconvenes Wednesday, when a vote is likely to take place.

The bill, authored by Sen. Ronnie Alting, R-Lafayette, would allow school corporations to transfer funds however they see fit during 2010 and 2011.

This included areas such as the general fund, the school transportation fund, the capital projects fund and the repair and replacement fund. The bill would not include the ability for funds to be transferred to or from the debt service fund.

School corporations have felt the effects of the latest recession and are desperate to stop their losses.

"As we move forward, the revenues continue to fall below what our projections are," said Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, who is a co-sponsor of the bill. Kenley said market predictions could force the Legislature to "keep K-12 education for another two years at basically a reduced level."

The committee heard testimony from teaching officials from varying departments. Dan Clark, the deputy director of the Indiana State Teachers Association, described the state of school funding as an "emergency" because of budget cuts.

"Schools had no time to plan for this, and their tuition support began to be cut in January," Clark said.

A pay freeze went over well with educators and officials, who supported the idea. Scott Jenkins, an aide to Gov. Mitch Daniels on education policy, said the schools would save about $90 million by freezing pay.

Rocky Killion, superintendent of West Lafayette Schools, said teachers in his corporation donated $217,000 in incremental pay back to the school and helped save eight teaching positions.

"Nobody wants teachers to be laid off, and nobody wants class sizes to go up, but also we don't print money," said Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, who serves on the House Education Committee. "We're not Washington. The question is 'How do we balance it all?'"

Part of the reason for a delay in the vote was to avoid cutting the wrong programs, lawmakers said. Several legislators made a push to avoid cutting programs such as music, art and physical education.

Parts of the bill include reducing the value of gifts lobbyists would have to report from $100 to $50. The penalty for not filing gifts with the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission would be increased from $10 per day to $100 per day.

The bill also would establish a "one-year cooling-off period," during which legislators who retire would have to wait before becoming a lobbyist. This cooling-off period would be effective on Jan. 1, 2012. Bauer, along with Senate sponsor Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, said all 50 senators would be added as co-sponsors through one of the bills' amendments.

A recent survey completed last month by the nonpartisan Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute found that trimming the number of precincts will save money.

Vanderburgh County would save 36 percent, or $65,000, by consolidating to vote centers. Gibson County would save 48 percent, Warrick County would save 43 percent and Posey County would save 49 percent with vote centers.

Tippecanoe County already has consolidated 92 precincts into 20 vote centers and saved $40,000 during the November 2008 election.

One part of the bill would require anyone who wins more than $1,200 from a slot machine to have his name checked against a national database of people who owe child support.

The bill would require all locations, excepting the circuit court clerk's office, to meet the same accessibility requirements as a polling place for a precinct. The bill also would make absentee voting easier for voters with disabilities.