When lawmakers passed a two-year $30 billion budget this year, both sides of the aisle boasted about a 3 percent increase in education funding.
On average, schools will receive an increase of 2 percent the first year, and a 1 percent increase the second year, for a statewide total of about $180.6 million. But those increases are just averages.
Most schools and districts won’t see increases of those amounts, and many could see decreases in funding over the two-year period, according to legislative estimates.
The effects of the new formula vary by school and district. In Allen County, Southwest Allen, East Allen and Northwest Allen county schools will see slight increases both years, while funding for Fort Wayne Community Schools and the county’s three charter schools will decrease in the second year of the formula.
The changes seen by some districts could require cuts and keep salaries and wages stagnant, local officials say.
A change in the distribution of full-day kindergarten funds will affect districts’ 2013 budgets, and other changes will result in reduced funding over the two-year period for districts considered complex, meaning they have higher populations of low-income students.
Schools’ and districts’ general funds are supported by state tuition payments based on enrollment. The more students enrolled in a school or district, the more funding it receives. General funds pay mostly for the salaries and benefits of employees along with some utilities.
Because the fund supports staffing, when schools and districts must cut costs to meet declining state revenue, they are left with few options but to lay off employees. Raises are also afforded only as state funding revenue increases.
Virtual schools are defined by state code as schools that offer at least 50 percent of instruction through virtual or online means or computer-based instruction.
Virtual schools are funded at 90 percent, an increase from 85 percent in previous years, of the base per-student amount. They also are eligible for state grants such as the full-day kindergarten grant.
The rise in funding for virtual schools makes up about $25.4 million of the total increase in education funding.
Publicly funded vouchers are also a part of the state’s school funding and benefit from the increase. Families who qualify based on income are given vouchers to attend private schools. Currently, more than 9,000 students receive vouchers worth a collective $37 million in tax dollars.
In the next two years, voucher funding will account for about $25.8 million of the total increase in education funding to support the anticipated increase in students taking advantage of the program.
That leaves about $129.4 million in funding for traditional public schools and nonvirtual charters.
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