INDIANAPOLIS — The Senate’s top fiscal leader on Thursday said he expects proposed funding for at-risk students to be a point of discussion as the chamber makes its mark on the state’s next spending plan.
State Sen. Luke Kenley’s comments come as the Senate begins its review of the new, two-year $31 billion proposed budget for the state. The Senate is expected to make changes to the House plan as lawmakers decide what budget proposal to ultimately send to Gov. Mike Pence for consideration.
The House’s plan changes the standard the state uses to gauge the funding school districts receive for at-risk students, which is in addition to the base funding districts receive. Kenley, a Noblesville Republican, said a good aspect of the House’s plan is the about-$500-per-student increase school districts will receive in base funding. But he expects the Senate to look at the complexity, or at-risk, dollars further.
“This is going to be a topic of big discussion,” Kenley said. “There’s going to be a lot of work. The biggest thing is just the overall amount of money that the House put in there. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to make all schools feel like they benefited from the formula.”
Kenley said lawmakers need to be cautious as they contemplate new spending over the next two years, but a project he’s “wholeheartedly enthusiastic” about is the proposed regional medical school campus for Downtown Evansville. Kenley said lawmakers will need to analyze whether to offer more funding for the school. The House plan provides $36 million in financing authority to construct the campus, but the universities partnering in the project have requested closer to $50 million.
On education funding, the House infuses $469 million in new money for K-12 schools over the next two years. But how education dollars are divvied out varies across the state and can even spell overall funding losses for some school districts — especially if they are experiencing an enrollment decline.
Kenley said if lawmakers decided to change the complexity dollars, it may be appropriate to phase in those changes over the budget cycle. Currently, the state bases those dollars on the number of students in a district who qualify for free textbooks, but the House plan shifts those dollars to students who qualify for free lunch.
EVSC currently stands to lose dollars for at-risk students under the funding plan.
On university projects, Kenley said he’s undecided on whether to embrace Pence’s concept of funding them solely out of cash or allowing them to bond to cover the cost of construction. He said paying with cash is a conservative approach, but borrowing rates are now extremely low.
“I want to see how much debt we are carrying and whether it makes sense to take advantage of low interest rates that we know will not last forever,” Kenley said.
He said lawmakers also need to look at the growing cost to test Indiana students. Kenley said the state now spends about $35 million on standardized testing, but an initial request doubled that amount.
The next step in the Senate’s review of the budget is a discussion on school funding set for Tuesday in the Appropriations Committee.