Governor’s Recommended Budget Prioritizes Education

The Governor’s budget is honestly balanced, holds the line on spending, maintains reserves, funds the administration’s priorities, and incurs no new debt. It’s two-year average increase in spending, 1.34 percent, is well below inflation, which is 2.06 percent over a ten-year average.

“This is an education budget,” said the Governor. “It puts Hoosiers first, continues Indiana on a pathway to prosperity, and funds our priority of expanding educational opportunities for all our kids, from pre-K and K-12 to higher education and into the adult workforce.”

The Governor’s budget increases K-12 funding by 2.0 percent, or $134 million, in FY 2016 and 1.0 percent, or $67 million, in FY 2017. It includes provisions to pay good teachers more by adding 10 percent more funding for Teacher Performance Grants each year, for a total of $63 million for the biennium. It provides for equity in education funding by allocating an additional $1,500 per pupil grant for charter schools, designates $10 million each year of the biennium for the new pre-K pilot program, increases funding by $20 million per year for career and technical education efforts through the Indiana Works Councils, and adds $7 million in each of the next two years for Adult High Schools.

In addition, the budget helps to serve those in need across the state, including $11 million per year to fund the State Adoption Subsidy program at the Department of Child Services, full funding for the Medicaid forecast, and a total of $8 million to enhance awareness and provide critical prenatal care services to at-risk mothers as part of the State’s effort to reduce the infant mortality rate.

The budget also builds on the administration’s focus on jobs and economic development through $84 million over the biennium to support the Regional Cities initiative and $100 million in FY 2016 and $200 million in FY 2017 for the Major Moves 2020 fund. And, in preparation for the state’s upcoming bicentennial celebration in 2016, the budget provides $25 million for the construction of a new State Archives building and $25 million for the new Bicentennial Inn at Potato Creek State Park, the first new state park inn since Spring Mill Inn was built in 1939.

The Governor’s recommended budget can be found here: http://www.in.gov/sba/2651.htm, and highlights from the Governor’s budget can be found attached.