One of the main topics of discussion at the Legislative Breakfast held Saturday morning at Harmony Hall in Wesley Manor revolved around education — more specifically House Bill 1003 which states, if passed, that 85 percent of all school funding goes to the classroom while the other 15 percent is for operations.
Community Schools of Frankfort School Board President Karen Sutton asked State Senator Brian Buchanan and State Representative Don Lehe about the bill which could possibly hurt Frankfort because of the tax caps.
“I know a lot of schools have to spend money on bus transportation, on counselors and to provide services to students,” said Buchanan. “My question is what exactly is counted in the 85 percent and what is actually counted in the 15 percent.”
Recently, Community Schools of Frankfort Superintendent Don DeWeese brought the possibility up that the district doesn’t collect enough funds in taxes and usually has to use funds earmarked for other areas to help with items such as bus transportation. In fact, DeWeese said if not enough money is collected and they are not allowed to use money from the education fund, there is a good chance that the district would not be able to have a bus transportation program.
If House Bill 1003 moves forward, it could mean as much as a 5 percent salary increase or more for teachers.
“Teacher pay is a high priority for us,” said Lehe.
Buchanan is also pushing some school safety measures.
“We’re just trying to look at ways to help school safety,” said Buchanan. “One is providing more resources for schools to make sure their buildings are safe for the kids. Another one we’re looking at is mental health and addressing the mental health needs and providing more resources for schools to address the mental health need which I think is great.”
Lehe said there are a lot of things going on. However, the number one item is enacting a responsible, balanced state budget.
“The budget is going to be a little over $34 billion for two years,” said Lehe. “Over half of that is the K12 budget. Everything will be done to fund education at its desired amount.”
Lehe added another issue deals with the workforce.
“We have a huge shortage of workers in this state,” said Lehe. “There are lots of good jobs available. But, we have to have more of the younger people working.”
Lehe also said that other issues involve supporting Hoosier veterans (House Bill 1010), bolstering school responses (House Bill 1063) and punishing drug dealers (House Bill 1186).
Buchanan said as the budget bill makes its way through the House of Representatives, the Senate is considering a number of other bills to support public school teachers. They include:
- Senate Bill 362 would increase Indiana’s school-supply tax credit from $100 to $500. Expanding this credit is projected to save Hoosier teachers $6 million to $15 million annually.
- Senate Bill 508 would streamline training requirements for school employees, replacing the patchwork system they currently have.
- Senate Bill 532 would require the State Board of Education to replace Indiana’s current flawed teacher licensure exams — which have been high failure rates in many subject areas — with national teacher licensure exams that are proven to work.
- Senate Bill 606 would give school districts more flexibility in setting teacher pay by removing a cap on how much of a teacher’s raise can be based on years of experience and academic degrees held.