Indiana K-12 Funding Fix Approved By Senate Committee

A senate committee approved legislation Thursday that would make sure Indiana's K-12 schools have enough funding for every student, less than two months after the Indiana Department of Education warned public schools that they could see less money than anticipated due to an unexpected increase in student enrollment. NUVO reports the Senate Appropriations Committee reviewed Senate Bill 189, which would allow money from the state tuition reserve fund to be transferred and cover the cost of all enrolled students and prevent schools from making cuts. The bill, authored by commitee chair Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, joins another bill passed Wednesday passed by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Both bills would resolve an issue that came up this school year when Indiana’s public schools enrolled more than 6,000 students than expected.

Mishler's measure would now require the state to provide the funding if the amount needed is less than a $25 million cap.

RELATED: Indiana Public Schools Face Possible Per-Student Funding Cut

NUVO reports Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne and others wanted more information on where the 6,351 new public school students are coming from, and Senior Fiscal Analyst Whitney Bross said there are many sources of growth, but more specific data is needed in order to confirm these sources.

Adam Baker, press secretary for the Indiana Department of Education, said the movement of students into public schools is difficult to assess because most of the reporting is up to district officials, who have different ways of collecting data.

However, according to NUVO, the DOE is compiling a first-ever report on student transfer data, Baker said.

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