DeLaney opposes 2025 state budget

In the early hours of April 25, Indiana Republicans passed the final version of House Bill 1001, sending a budget to the governor’s desk. State Rep. Ed DeLaney (D-Indianapolis) voted against the budget due to insufficient funding for K-12 public education, cuts to higher education as well as the expansion of the voucher program. 

“When it comes to this year’s Republican budget, I want to know how we got here and where we go from here. First, we got here through years of cutting away at our financial resources while expecting an ever-growing economy. Those are two bad ideas that underpin the current shortfall. 

“What we need to do now is to protect the most vital parts of our state and its people and correct our past mistakes. We are failing on both challenges. 

“We have done very little for K-12 public education in this budget while being disproportionately generous with private school vouchers. Additionally, this budget eliminates pre-k programs for tens of thousands of Hoosier children. 

“Amongst my deepest concerns is that we have undercut our 200-year-old system of state colleges and universities. Instead of creating a ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ we have laid down a whole new bureaucratic framework and a set of rules to limit the success and independence of our higher education institutions. Our professors will have to beg to keep their posts and to teach the things they know and are committed to. What happened to academic freedom? What happened to free speech? 

“This body is on the verge of unraveling one of our state’s greatest economic assets, our universities, behind closed doors at the 11th hour. 

“One of the finest accomplishments of the last decade of the General Assembly was the strengthening of our local public health system. This budget cuts our support for that by more than two thirds.

“To top it off, we have done nothing to protect our budget from the impending doom of more cuts from the federal level. The economic uncertainty from Washington wrecked our revenue forecast to the tune of $2.4 billion. Whatever happens next could very well wreck the entire budget. Neglecting to plan for these risks is not just fiscally irresponsible, it is foolish.”