Forum Seeks Answers To School Funding Debate

Fixing the funding formula for public education is a top issue in the General Assembly this session. Thursday night WFYI and Chalkbeat hosted a forum at the Central Library with Republican lawmakers and school leaders about challenges and possibilities of overhauling the system.

Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma made two things clear -- the system to fund public education in Indiana needs fixed but he is unsure how to do it right.

“This is a difficult task and we know that. It would be easy to say ‘ehh -- it is what it is’ and move on," he said. "The state is in a fairly good position now and we know we can do better and that is our goal.”

Bosma wants an increase in school funding for the next two year budget but how the dollars will be divided remains to be seen.

Some suburban schools and lawmakers feel the funding formula is unfair. For example Carmel Clay Schools -- one of the state’s top performing districts -- receives around $3,000 less per student in state funding than Indianapolis Public Schools.

But IPS Superintendent Lewis Ferebee said the issue should not be about comparing funding levels or suburban versus urban. Instead it should be about schools having the right resources to take care of their students.

“What we can’t convert this conversation to is -- someone has to win or lose, that there has to be this competition between low poverty and high poverty school districts," he said. "At the end of the day I think we all want to ensure that every child in Indiana has the resources and opportunities to be successful.”

Ferebee said he would support a tax increase so teachers could be paid more, boost services to students and create more workforce development opportunities.

But Bosma said tax increases and even significant tax cuts are not part of the budget plan.

Northwest Allen County Schools Superintendent Chris Himsel is part of the alliance seeking a an increase in the minimum amount of per-student aid. But he does not want districts like IPS to face cuts so other districts can have more.

“It is not about zip code. It is about making sure every single one of our kids have it. And the question for the state is: is it about basic learning or is it about the learning that we are being held accountable to try to help kids achieve," he said. "And if that is the case, then it’s additional funding for every school throughout the entire state.”

Bosma and State Rep. Tim Brown, House Ways and Means Committee chairman, did not answer that question. 

How to rewrite the state’s school funding formula will be one of the top debate issues during this General Assembly.

Earlier Thursday, Gov. Mike Pence's staff released his budget proposal for 2015-16, 2016-17 and it contains $200 million increase in K-12 school funding, including $41 million set aside for charter schools.

Bosma said the new funding for charter schools was a "drop" in the overall $15.3 billion fund that goes toward public education in the current budget cycle.

An archive recording of the school funding forum debate will soon be available at www.wfyi.org.

Contact WFYI reporter Eric Weddle at eweddle@wfyi.org or call (317) 614-0470. Follow on Twitter: @ericweddle.