Senator Vi Simpson has an opinion column in today’s Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. She says that the General Assembly has failed school children with the budget. She says
Thanks to the approved two-year state budget, many Indiana children can expect to see larger class sizes, fewer teachers and a much more limited academic curriculum.
The $24.4 billon state budget, signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels, dramatically reduces the state’s financial support to 143 rural and urban school corporations across the state. It passes the budget buck by shifting much of the responsibility for paying for schools onto the backs of local property taxpayers. Indiana’s property owners can expect to see their property taxes increase by as much as $850 million statewide.
She goes on to criticize the “Money Follows the Child” philosophy as sounding reasonable but being unfair in practice because it penalizes school corporations with stable or declining populations. She also notes one key problem that I have also pointed to in the past: children are not created equally. “Some have a greater number of challenges to overcome, and these children often cost more to educate and to prepare them to achieve their full potential.” (Others that have pointed this out: The Muncie Star Press and The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.)
She also mentions the issue of fixed costs that do not decrease even with fewer students in the school.
I’ll offer up a simplistic scenario illustrating the problem. Say you have a school with four kids and two teachers. The rent is $100 and each teacher costs $50. The legislature assigns $50 per student. With four kids, you’re fine — $200 for rent and teacher, paid for by 4-kids @ $50 per kid. Then two kids leave, and you can let one teacher go. So you have $100 rent and 1 teacher at $50. $150 total cost. But, at $50 per kid, you only get $100 in taxes. You’re in the hole $50. Oops.
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