ANDERSON, Ind. — With a long break ahead of them, local lawmakers are proud of the progress made during the last General Assembly session.
“We probably accomplished more than I thought we might,” Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said on Sunday — one day after the end of the session.
Lanane hailed the passages of an education bill to help school funding, a jobs bill to help employers and ethics reform years overdue.
Although he was hesitant to support the bill and take on more federal debt, Lanane said he was pleased to see that a bill giving employers a one-year delay on unemployment insurance rate hikes passed.
Though he says it won’t help the Anderson Community School Corp. a lot, Lanane supported the education bill, which will allow school boards to borrow from their capital projects fund to pay teachers.
Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, said the bill does not come without provisions to keep schools from draining their own capital projects fund.
“A school district can take up to 5 percent of its capital projects fund and apply that toward instructional costs. If they seek to go over 5 percent, they have to agree to a wage freeze,” Austin said.
The bill will not penalize earned raises, she said. “If you’re a teacher and you finally get your master’s and you’re entitled to a $1,000 wage increase, you would get that.”
Rep. Jack Lutz, R-Anderson, said he thought the session went well, especially since his party is in the minority.
“I was pleased with a lot of our legislative agenda getting passed through. That’s an accomplishment for being in the minority,” Lutz said.
The Indiana Legislature did fail to do something of importance, he said. “I’d like to have seen language for Hoosier Park that would have protected them and some of their shareholders in this bankruptcy.”
Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton, was not available for comment Sunday.
Lawmakers won’t return to session until January, but they’ve already begun considering what comes next.
“Looking at the future, next year’s going to be a budget year and I would hope next year that our caucus will be in the majority. That’s going to take a lot of responsibility to create a budget that we live within our means with no new tax increases. That’s going to be a challenge and then funding education along with that challenge,” Lutz said.
Education is a key focus for Lanane, who sees major problems in the current funding model.
“I think we really have to take a careful and thorough look at how we fund public education and also how we fund local governmental services too,” Lanane said.
He worries that many students are transferring out of urban school systems, depleting those schools of important funding since it’s based on a per-pupil formula.
The formula, he said, is unfair. “We’re doing it on a per-pupil basis, but not all students are equal. Their needs and challenges are not the same.”
Contact Brandi Watters, 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com
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