Indiana General Assembly      House of Representatives

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Rep. Woody Burton                                                                          

Indiana House Republican Caucus                                                  

Room 401-3, Statehouse                                                                  

Indianapolis, IN  46204                                                                    

 

 

Rep. Burton continues to support flexibility in education

   It shouldn’t come as a surprise that our state faces one of the the worst economic climate seen in recent history.  These challenges will not be easy to overcome and nothing will be fixed over night.

    So, like everyone else, we must make tough decisions—even if it means making slight cuts in education.

     While extremely necessary, calling for a three percent cut in K-12 education and a six percent cut in higher education, I’m sure, was still no easy decision for the governor.

     As a result of the three percent cut, school corporations across Indiana are forced to work harder to stay within their budget without having to lay off any teachers.

     Many of our surrounding states are making much larger cuts to education, while Indiana is determined to make very little.

     In order to assist schools during these tough times, I supported giving them the opportunity to have flexibility in their budgets in order to move funds around to fill in the gaps.

     My House Republican colleagues and I proposed a change to House Bill 1367 to allow school corporations across the state to generate nearly $300 million to fill the recent reductions in school budgets.

     Under our plan, schools would have been allowed to transfer money into their general operating fund from other school funds—which is currently prohibited under law. 

    At a local level, each school could make their own decisions on how to utilize this flexibility based on their own unique needs and the amount of money they have available in their various funds. Of course, all of this would have been in addition to the flexibility that schools currently have in utilizing their general fund balances and rainy day funds. 

     This legislation did include one stipulation. School corporations would have to agree they would not use any of the generated dollars for employee salary increases.

      I felt this was an important restriction given Indiana’s current fiscal climate. We need to focus all additional dollars toward the classroom and ensure that no teachers are laid off. I could not in good conscience support the transfer of funds without this stipulation.

     Unfortunately, our plan did not receive any support from the House Democrats and was not included in House Bill 1367, which passed out of the House by a party line vote, 51-48.

    I chose not to support this legislation because I believe it would have a detrimental effect on students.

    The bill jeopardizes state funding for tests, such as the PSAT, K-3 diagnostic testing and grades 3-8 acuity testing. Removing state funding for PSAT testing will place the burden of paying for this test on parents.  Although many families may be able to afford this fee, there are Hoosier families who can’t.

      The PaST test is significant because it allows students to be eligible for the National Merit Scholars. In addition, K-3 diagnostic testing allows teachers to understand the learning progress of their classroom. Removing funding for this test will hamper teacher’s ability to prepare for an adequate learning environment for their students.

    Flexibility, accountability and alternatives must be part of the educational promise we offer to Hoosiers. House Bill 1367 represents a step backward in our effort to create a world class education for every child in our state.

     On Wednesday, House Republican members who serve on the education committee made a second attempt to save teachers’ jobs and protect students by proposing an amendment to Senate Bill 309.

     They offered a plan once again to give school corporations the flexibility to transfer money to their general operating funds to fully offset the recent budget cuts, as long as no teacher layoffs occur. 

     Despite their efforts to reach a compromise, the House Democrats voted against the amendment.

     After voting down the Republican amendment, House Democrats amended SB 309 to include their original proposal from HB 1367, which gives schools some flexibility in funding but does nothing to ensure that teachers are protected from layoffs. 

    On Thursday, the committee report for Senate Bill 309 was eligible for adoption by the full House. However, Speaker Pat Bauer (D-South Bend) used his position of power to side step the process by refusing to hand down the Senate Bill 309 committee reports for consideration. 

     The bill was sent back to the House Education Committee for further consideration.

     As we continue through the next couple of weeks, I can assure you that I will continue to fight to give schools, teachers and students every option to succeed by increasing flexibility in funding during these difficult economic times.

      If you have any questions or need to contact me for any reason, please feel free. I look forward to reading your input and hearing your thoughts. You can e-mail me at H58@in.gov or call 1-800-382-9841.