New Funding For Schools

This includes a $196 million increase in special education funding, a $5 million increase for non-English speaking learners, and an increase in the per-student funding to schools educating students in poverty.

Additionally, while teacher pay is negotiated between local school boards and their teachers, the new budget requires schools to spend at least 45% of their regular state funding on teacher salaries and encourages each school to set its starting teacher pay at no less than $40,000.

Unfortunately, the learning disruptions Hoosier students experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll, and that was made clear in the 2021 ILEARN results. Recognizing this would be the case, the legislature proactively passed House Enrolled Act 1008, which I sponsored, to create the Student Learning Recovery Grant Program and Fund to provide $150 million in grants for recovery learning and rehabilitation for eligible students in K-12 education.

In addition to the new funding from the state, Hoosier schools are also receiving more than $3 billion in federal stimulus money.

Given these large funding increases, I believe our Hoosier schools should be well-equipped to begin addressing the significant learning loss caused by the pandemic. Making up ground in core areas such as reading and math is absolutely critical to setting our students up for success in the years ahead.