“Republican-Flavored” Budget Leaves Bad Taste in House Democrats Mouth
Only a handful of Democrats joined almost all Republicans in the Indiana House of Representatives to pass a budget that was the center of a storm which nearly led to a government shutdown.
The final vote was 62 to 37 . All 48 Republicans voted yes, joined by 14 Democrats.
Lawmakers tried several times to pass a budget during a regular session, but failed to reach and agreement and shrinking state revenue forecasts only made life more difficult. To make matters worse lawmakers deadlocked over school funding, with Democrats wanting a formula that favored school districts while Republicans wanted money to follow the student.
At the end of the day, the threat of a government shutdown as outlined by Governor Mitch Daniels, gave a lot of lawmakers a new motivation to get things done.
The final House floor arguments were pretty standard. Democrats said the budget would hurt schools, Republicans said the state couldn’t spend money that it didn’t have.
Some of the budget highlights include…
- A two-year spending plan at $28 billion.
- No caps on charter schools.
- Creates a pilot on-line charter school program and limited tax credit for education expenses.
- A 1.3 percent increase for schools over the next two years, half of extra new revenue over projections goes to schools
- Higher Education is flat-lined.
- Keeps $1 billion in reserves.
- “Funds” the CIB through short-term loans, a hotel tax increase, and expanding the professional sports development area.
The budget is easily expected to pass the Senate with token opposition.
You can hear Pat Bauer and Brian Bosma’s comments below…
Here some additional audio from Luke Kenley and Lt. Governor Becky Skillman…
June 30th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Abdul,
Thanks for all your hard work and coverage of the budget debacle.
IndypendentReview.com
June 30th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Fiscal responsibility won out. There is no reason this couldn't have been done in the regular session. As for school funding, everyone who wants to flee a failing school district will be welcomed because the money comes with them!! Quality schools will thrive and hire. Schools that fail their students will shut their doors. Sanity rules!
June 30th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I'd probably have voted for this budget, inasmuch as I know now.
But one thing troubles me: flat-lining higher education is just plain dumb.
By all reasonable and accepted measure, Indiana is in the bottom 20% of states regarding college graduates. This is not the time to short-change higher education.
But otherwise, it sounds like a good budget deal.
The proof is in the details, tho…
June 30th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
TA, we are at the bottom in terms of college graduates because of 1) a lack of community college system like most states have and Indiana is in the infancy of ddeveloping; and 2) the brain drain, people get educated here and leave.
No one wastes more money than higher ed. Salaries are out of control and so too is building construction on campuses. We are not short changer higher ed any more than K-12.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Bauer took care of IVY Tech and the Colleges.
($267 MILLION OF UNIVERSITY CAPITAL EXPENDITURES, Free Tuition for ALL Purple Heart Recipients, $45 million IVY Tech Bonding, $10-$15 Million Per Campus for IU/Purdue, etc…….)
He is a one trick pony.
June 30th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Any gonads and so-called “higher” education would have been whacked as it certainly needs to be. It is one of the few Mitch errors that he has gone along with overfunding new construction for these parasites. I think it was the legislature that finally got fed up with the lack of building use on Monday's and Friday's in so-called “higher” education. Folks with memories will recall the Indiana version of the Grace Commission erring in allowing the talking heads of these state disgraces to serve. Of course, these dolts found that there was no waste at all in so-called “higher” education. Think about it. We know that at the end of K-12 there is an exit exam which purports to prove that all those dollars attained an 8th grade level of “education”. Argue about that but keep in mind that the so-called “higher” education sorts have NO EXAMINATION of whatever it is that they purport to do. Think about that. Even affirmative action IU Law school “graduates” have to either pass or fail (usually fail) the bar exam. But, for all the rest of these parasites we take it on faith that they are actually accomplishing something. We know that K-12 that they are not. Namely, we know they guarentee, sorta, that an 8th grade level will be reached (AND, they lie about that).
June 30th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
62 to 37 – that's 99 out of 100. Who wasn't there to cast their vote?
June 30th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Consider yourself forwarned. There will be a substantial tax increase within the next 2 years. And Hoosiers will continue to vote these fools back into office.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Mitch Daniels for President – amazing. So the Dems think rolling is a form of crafty strategy.. let 'em! Rationale and reason won in the end. Abdul.. which 14 Dems voted in favor? I can't find it anywhere.
June 30th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Tax increases are disproportional to governmental purpose (greed being devoid of legitimate purpose), and confiscate an ever greater share of individual freedom, private production & wealth; therefore, an absolute abuse of human rights, regardless of well intentioned excuses or “rationale.” Going back decades, tax increases serve as clear chronological markers of representational failure, which shorten the life & prospects of our republic. Socialism is conformity; to state defined failure vs. individually determined success.
June 30th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
It was Bauer. It is tradition for the speaker to not vote unless in breaking a tie.
June 30th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
CORRECTION:
The bill would increase overall spending on public schools by 1.1 percent in the first year and 0.3 percent the second. It would keep operating spending for public colleges and universities essentially flat, but provide more than $600 million in bonding authority for higher education building projects.
The politicians need to explain this to the K-12 folks.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I hate to say this, but in the end, the Governor won the fight. There is no reason this could not have been done in the regular session. The Democrats carried the flag for the public schools and then stabbed them in the back in the end. It's sad, and extremely disappointing that so many D's caved after some fought so hard. I commend those D's that courageously voted against this budget. To the Democrats that caved, no congratulations from me. I'm sorry you felt the need to spend money partially solve the CIB issue but not fund our schools. That's a hard decision to swallow.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
What are you talking about. Charter schools did great in the budget bill. Charter schools are public schools.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
They may be publicly funded, but they are not real public schools.
June 30th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Your right, Jon. Charter schools actually provide quality education that people want.
July 1st, 2009 at 4:13 am
Jon, below are the REAL funding methods for our public schools. Which methods of funding are you talking about???
The Common School fund shall consist of the Congressional Township fund, and the lands belonging thereto;
The Surplus Revenue fund;
The Saline fund and the lands belonging thereto;
The Bank Tax fund, and the fund arising from the one hundred and fourteenth section of the charter of the State Bank of Indiana;
The fund to be derived from the sale of County Seminaries, and the moneys and property heretofore held for such Seminaries; from the fines assessed for breaches of the penal laws of the State; and from all forfeitures which may accrue;
All lands and other estate which shall escheat to the State, for want of heirs or kindred entitled to the inheritance;
All lands that have been, or may hereafter be, granted to the State, where no special purpose is expressed in the grant, and the proceeds of the sales thereof; including the proceeds of the sales of the Swamp Lands, granted to the State of Indiana by the act of Congress of the twenty eighth of September, eighteen hundred and fifty, after deducting the expense of selecting and draining the same;
Taxes on the property of corporations, that may be assessed by the General Assembly for common school purposes.
–Article 8 Section 2, Indiana Constitution
July 1st, 2009 at 4:53 am
“But one thing troubles me: flat-lining higher education is just plain dumb.”
Try just plain smart. I have worked in higher education for ten years, in a position that gives me a good insight on how things work. Sorry, but the waste I have seen is just sickening. I know departments that are top heave in administration. I know departments that will re-model, get someone new in charge, or just change their mind, and they are spending thousands more just to change again. The universities say they need space, yet the new buildings usually have massive atriums that jack up environmental costs and ends up as wasted space…only because someone thinks it looks good.
I can't believe how much the costs for a credit hour has changed at just IUPUI. When I went there for school, it was maybe $120/hour, now it is much, much more, without that many changes as far as I can tell.
The only positive aspect is that the era of entry level managers getting on and moving on up all the way till retirement is ending. Higher ed upper management are jumpers, jumping from one university to another. At least with that aspect, there won't be these decade old friendship bonds that prevent cutting the fat where it needs to be cut.
July 1st, 2009 at 5:36 am
Charter schools are not public schools in any sense, except that they take public money. Unfortunately, their governing structure is cloaked in secrecy, and their accountability is suspect at best. They accept virtually no special ed or “difficult” students. If “regular” public schools operated in that manner, we'd all be outraged.
As for higher ed, Paul, the “community college” system you discuss is slowly being built, via Ivy Tech. That was started under Frank O'Bannon, and they're doing a good job training nurses, lab techs, and many other needed professions. Even though IT employs or did senselessly employ leaders like Garton and Bauer, their expansion has been remarkable, and it's a cheap education. Their student enrollment is growing rapidly and their buildings are crowded, so they need more space all over the state.
Indiana's and Purdue's professorial salaries rank seventh and ninth in the Big Ten, respectively. Bloomington is a beautiful place all right, but you can't retain and recruit the best without proper funding. And IU's tuition has risen 17% in the last three years–they haven't published this fall's rates yet, which were dependent on the legislative support. I know this because I pay it for my kids.
As for bonding authority to build facilities–perhaps that can and should be checked closer. But if you check the revenue source for those bonds–it's usually housing fees or tuition, not state support. So, technically, taxpayers are largely off the hook for mot of those.
I know it's popular to bash higher education, but it is a competitive arena, and we're falling more and more behind. That decline cannot be tolerated. Our future depends on a better-educated workforce.
July 1st, 2009 at 9:59 am
It always surprises me that so many democrats oppose charter schools. It seems to me to be the perfect compromise between free market education and government-run school monopolies. Personally, I support school vouchers, government oversight be damned. But I can at least understand the opposition to vouchers, even if I disagree the opposition. But the idea that all of public education must be one-size-fits-all and must be run by a government monopoly and must trap people into districts based on their income/address is just craziness to me. And it hurts the very people that democrats claim to represent.
July 1st, 2009 at 10:36 am
Charter schools are not public schools in any sense, except that they take public money. Unfortunately, their governing structure is cloaked in secrecy, and their accountability is suspect at best. They accept virtually no special ed or “difficult” students. If “regular” public schools operated in that manner, we'd all be outraged.
As for higher ed, Paul, the “community college” system you discuss is slowly being built, via Ivy Tech. That was started under Frank O'Bannon, and they're doing a good job training nurses, lab techs, and many other needed professions. Even though IT employs or did senselessly employ leaders like Garton and Bauer, their expansion has been remarkable, and it's a cheap education. Their student enrollment is growing rapidly and their buildings are crowded, so they need more space all over the state.
Indiana's and Purdue's professorial salaries rank seventh and ninth in the Big Ten, respectively. Bloomington is a beautiful place all right, but you can't retain and recruit the best without proper funding. And IU's tuition has risen 17% in the last three years–they haven't published this fall's rates yet, which were dependent on the legislative support. I know this because I pay it for my kids.
As for bonding authority to build facilities–perhaps that can and should be checked closer. But if you check the revenue source for those bonds–it's usually housing fees or tuition, not state support. So, technically, taxpayers are largely off the hook for mot of those.
I know it's popular to bash higher education, but it is a competitive arena, and we're falling more and more behind. That decline cannot be tolerated. Our future depends on a better-educated workforce.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
It always surprises me that so many democrats oppose charter schools. It seems to me to be the perfect compromise between free market education and government-run school monopolies. Personally, I support school vouchers, government oversight be damned. But I can at least understand the opposition to vouchers, even if I disagree the opposition. But the idea that all of public education must be one-size-fits-all and must be run by a government monopoly and must trap people into districts based on their income/address is just craziness to me. And it hurts the very people that democrats claim to represent.