INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
The firm control that Republicans have over the Indiana Legislature has them
forging ahead on a school funding overhaul that shifts tens of millions of
dollars to growing suburban schools, along with contentious issues favored
by social conservatives and powerful business groups.
Lawmakers have
reached the midway point of the General Assembly’s four-month session,
during which they’ve seemed resolved to approve a proposal to allow the
replacement of Democratic schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz as the state
Board of Education’s leader. They’ve also moved to loosen state casino laws
despite Gov. Mike Pence’s opposition to a gambling expansion but saw a push
to end the state’s decades-old ban on Sunday carry-out alcohol sales fall
apart.
Pence says the
legislative session is off to a successful start - even as he hints the
House-passed state budget plan might spend too much. But there’s still
plenty of time for things to change.
The only absolute
necessity for lawmakers is to approve a new two-year state budget before the
session’s scheduled end in late April.
More than half the
money included in the $31 billion spending plan from House Republicans goes
toward K-12 education. That proposal, now in the hands of the Senate,
includes 2.3 percent increases for both years, which is more than Pence
proposed and could result in a projected state surplus that’s slightly below
the governor’s nearly $2 billion target.
Democrats have
blasted the House Republican school funding proposal, saying it will bring
“devastating” funding cuts to more than a third of the state’s nearly 300
school districts. Under the plan, school districts largely in urban and
rural areas that are losing students could receive millions of dollars less,
while some affluent suburban districts would see increases of 10 percent or
more.
Republican leaders
say their plan is based on money following student enrollment instead of
funding districts based on previous years.
"Funding buildings
versus funding children is the main philosophical difference,” said House
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville.
House Democratic
Leader Scott Pelath of Michigan City has argued that the districts that
could see funding cuts are largely those with the most at-risk students,
such as those who live in poverty, have disabilities or are learning
English.
“There are hundreds
of thousands of kids throughout Indiana that are going to continue to see
fewer teachers, growing classroom pressures and environments where it’s
harder to learn,” he said.
The debate over
school funding comes amid accusations that Republicans are targeting Ritz
for political reasons. She has been the lone Democrat holding a Statehouse
office since her 2012 upset of Republican schools chief Tony Bennett.
Ritz’s tenure has
been marked with numerous disputes with members of the Republican-appointed
Board of Education. Republican legislative leaders say the board has become
dysfunctional, and both the House and Senate have approved bills ending the
superintendent’s automatic position as board chairman and allowing any board
member to be elected its leader.
Protests from Ritz
supporters on social media, at a Statehouse rally and numerous town hall
meetings with legislators haven’t swayed GOP leaders.
Lawmakers in the
coming weeks will also take up a contentious proposal that supporters say
would allow those with religious objections to refuse services for same-sex
weddings, which federal courts legalized in Indiana last year.
The bill cleared
the Senate on party lines despite arguments from some business leaders that
the proposal could hurt the state’s reputation. Opposition could heat up in
the coming weeks with involvement from Freedom Indiana, the coalition that
led last year’s successful campaign against legislation to add a gay
marriage ban to the state constitution.
A proposal to
repeal the decades-old state law that sets wages for public construction
projects is now in Senate hands after winning approval in the House, where
13 Republicans joined Democrats in voting against it.