Last week, State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) received a report prepared at his request by the Legislative Services Agency (LSA). LSA is a nonpartisan agency that assists the Indiana General Assembly with research and fiscal analysis. The report shows that Indiana’s total education funding has decreased from 44% of the total state budget to 40% since Fiscal Year 2011. Traditional school corporations have been hit hardest, with inflation-adjusted funding down by $368 million.
DeLaney released the following statement in response to the data:
“My Republican colleagues deprived our public schools of $368 million. They turned the state’s taxpayer-funded voucher program into a near-free ride for well-off families. They left dozens of districts asking their residents to pass referendums to raise property taxes just to keep the lights on. Despite that, they claim ‘historic’ support and funding for education. Let’s call that what it is: a lie, and not a white lie.
“It seems my colleagues have taken to wealth redistribution. They take tax dollars from public schools and use them to subsidize families who were already writing private school tuition checks, then send local homeowners a higher property tax bill for the schools they defund. Ironically, the party that lectures the rest of us about socialism has adopted a strategy of taking from the many to serve the few.
“There is no excuse for decreasing education funding in a state with a $4 billion surplus and a 45th-out-of-50 ranking in public education support. Almost 86% of Indiana students attend traditional public schools, yet they've consistently gotten the short end of the stick.
“Education funding has decreased because Republicans decided it should. Indiana has the cash to restore funding to our schools and then some. My Republican colleagues simply choose not to, and Hoosiers have a right to know why.”