Highlights of HEA 1001: State Budget Bill
(Final Version)
K-12 Education Appropriations
As passed by the Indiana General Assembly, April 27, 2003

School Formula for 2004 and 2005:

• Provides a minimum guaranteed increase in regular dollars for all school corporations of 1% (Except for some schools with a dual enrollment payback in CY 2005).

• Provides total formula dollar increase of 1.6% for 2004 and 1.7% for 2005 without Capital Projects Fund transfers. Total formula increases with transfers are 3.3% and 2.9%.

• Creates a new Complexity Index to provide additional dollars to help educate at risk students and a Second Tier Complexity Index that provides additional dollars for corporations with unusually large numbers of complex students.

• Adds a new remediation grant of $15 M for 2004 and $30 M for 2005. Funds are distributed on a per pupil basis similar to the existing line item remediation distribution.

• Sets aside $28.6 M of funds transferred from the Lottery Commission to the Teacher’s Retirement Fund for 2004 and 2005 to be used to reduce school corporations contributions for the 1996 plan.

• Statewide average levy growth of about 4.0% and 3.6% for CY 2004 and 2005.

• Provides school corporations with budget flexibility by permitting costs for utilities and property insurance to be paid from the Capital Projects Fund (CPF). All school corporations may elect to pay these expenses from CPF in an amount not to exceed 1% of CY 2003 total dollars for CY 2004 and another 1% for CY 2005.

• No changes from CY 2003 for Honors, Vocational/Special Ed and Prime Time grants.

• Incorporates 2000 census data (for applicable factors) for Complexity Index.

• Restores $119 M Deficit Management Plan (DMP) cut for FY ’03.

Other K-12 School Funding:

• Funds the entire FY ’03 deficiency (FY ’03 appropriation increase of $15.2 M).

• Funds ½ of ADA Flat Grant, Transportation and Special Ed/Voc Ed Transportation from 2003 base level for 2004. Eliminates funding for ADA Flat, Transportation and Special Ed/Voc Ed Transportation in 2005. (Reduction from 2003 of $34.4 M for 2004 and $68.8 M for 2005)

• Schools may transfer to help replace reductions in the ADA Flat Grant and Transportation distributions.

• Provides for additional ADM count to help track changes – does not impact funding.

• Funds P.L. 221 Professional Development at $13.8 M/year.

• Maintains funding for testing and remediation at DMP cut level of $31.4 M/year.

• Maintains funding for Full-Day Kindergarten grants at $8.5 M/year.

• Funds textbook reimbursement at $19.9 M/year.

• Summer School funded at $18.3 M/year

• Funding for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students maintained at $700,000/year.

• Funding for the Early Intervention Reading Grant Program maintained at $3.7 M/year.

• The School Library Printed Materials Grant is not funded.
  

School – Library Technology:

• Educational Technology Program funded at $2.1 M/year (Buddy System, Web Academy, DOE).

• Technology Plan Grant Program provides technology grants to schools funded at $5 M for the biennium.

• School and Library Internet connections funded at $7.0 M for the biennium.

Charter Schools:

• Provides for separate ADM counts for charter schools.

• Provides that charter students are funded at the same $/ADM as the school corporation where the charter is located (Exception for Campagna Academy in Lake County which uses a weighted average of the corporations where the students come from).

• Establishes the Charter School Advancement Account to provide loans for new charter schools and charter schools with enrollment growth greater than 15%.

• Limits distributions for tuition support and other state grants for charter schools to $20.3 M for 2004 and 2005.

• Requires governing body to provide 1st semester funding for conversion charter school.

• Sets local tax share for charter schools at 35% of regular dollars. Local share paid by state for 2002-2003 until levy can be generated.

• Charters eligible for Prime Time, Special/Voc Ed, growing enrollment and honors grants.