INDIANAPOLIS – The House Republican version of the budget advanced out of the House Ways and Means Committee along party lines on Monday over the concerns of Democrats and critics — who flagged the relatively flat funding growth for Indiana’s schools.
Republicans touted 2% increases for education funding in both fiscal years for the state’s next two-year budget, a number that includes expanding “school choice” vouchers for even the wealthiest Hoosiers.
With that in mind, Democrats said increases to public schools — where most Hoosiers are educated — would be closer to 1.3%.
“I have the distinct impression that the vouchers and charters, on the percentage basis, are going to get a big chunk of that 2%,” said Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis.
Denny Costerison, with the Indiana Association of School Business Officials, agreed with the 1.3% figure. His group’s calculations showed a $139 million increase for public schools in Fiscal Year 2026, and a $52 million increase the following year. “We had two good budgets, and now this one’s going to be lean, no matter how we look at it,” he told the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
The state is projected to have some moderate revenue growth in the first year of the biennium but will be nearly flat in the second year, a cause for concern for budget writers. Much of that growth will be absorbed by growing Medicaid costs.
Additionally, the budget strikes a fund established to offset the costs of curricular materials for schools. Instead, it is rolled into the foundation of the school funding formula.
Costerison said that was preferable for school officials. By putting curricular material dollars in the foundation — not a separate line item — “that grows over time as the foundation grows.”
He noted, however, that the growth “won’t be huge,” and cautioned that the roughly $158 each school gets per student for curricular materials “does not meet the needs” of some Hoosier districts when it comes to textbook costs.
Before 2023, Indiana was one of only a few states to allow schools to charge families fees for textbooks and other educational materials.
Some schools reportedly spent more than their allotted amount on textbooks, dipping into other funds to cover shortfalls.
The Indiana Coalition for Public Education, meanwhile, urged Hoosiers to question their representatives directly about the budget appropriations for public school children.
Read the rest of the Indiana Capital Chronicle story, here.
