House Republicans this week proposed their own two-year spending plan, one that includes a 4.6 percent boost in public school funding over the next two years.
Two of the county's school corporations stand to benefit should this proposed budget be approved and signed by Gov. Mike Pence.Another, however, will not.
“The problem is that when the state says it is giving out new money, that's not always the case for everybody,” said North Knox Superintendent Darrel Bobe. “It's not divided up evenly. It's not like everybody gets that 3 or 4 percent boost.
“That's what the general public thinks, but that's not the way it works.”
Under the Republican-backed proposed budget, even if North Knox picks up eight additional students next year, it won't see an increase in funding. If it looses students, it will lose funding as well.
South Knox, however, would be poised to see an increase in funding of 3.4 percent if it picks up the same number of students. The Vincennes Community School Corp. could see 3.1 percent.
“Two of us stand to benefit, one doesn't,” said South Knox Superintendent Tim Grove. “I just don't understand the logic.”
Indiana's public schools would see a $469 million increase in funding in the new two-year state budget under the budget proposal released Monday by majority House Republicans. That proposal also includes an additional $40 million in grants for charter schools, but the public school spending increase is more than double the $201 million hike that Pence proposed in January.
The House plan calls for 2.3 percent boosts in school funding during both budget years, while maintaining a state surplus of about $1.8 billion.
The plan also increases the base per-student funding enough to close the gap between fast-growing suburban districts and those in urban and rural areas that are losing enrollment.
VCSC superintendent Greg Parsley said this plan is obviously more favorable to public schools than Pence's plan, but he isn't counting his chickens before they hatch.
“This is a long process,” he said. “We'll have to see what Senate Republicans come up with, and my guess is the budget will take several different shapes and forms between now and the end of April. It will likely be a compromise between all three.”
But Parsley said still tucked away within the state's complicated school funding formula — a fact proven by North Knox's plight under this proposed budget — is the continued shift of monies towards more affluent suburban schools.
“We're still seeing those dollars move toward your Carmels, your Fishers, places like that,” he said. “When you really start looking and drilling down, when you look at how every school corporation will shake out, what concerns me is that we are still moving in that direction.”
Bobe agreed.
“This is not a formula that favors poverty,” he said. “It does not favor our particular demographics.”
Grove said “certainly” he would like to see this latest budget draft move forward and onto Pence's desk, but he, like so many others, struggles with the way money is divvied out. And he worries that any additional money realized now could be taken away just as swiftly.
“(Legislators) have a tendency to build you up and then pull the rug out from underneath you,” Grove said. “If I thought this was going to be an ongoing thing, that it could really change future projections in terms of what we could do for our students and employees, then that's great.
“But I'm withholding any celebrations until I actually see the money,” he said. “It's like playing the lottery. In the end, you just have to hope you have all the numbers — and the Power Ball.”