DOE 2003-2005 Budget Issues
The current economic downturn in Indiana causes concerns for every Hoosier citizen. The decline in the economy has not come at a particularly good time for many individuals, groups, organizations, and sectors in our state, including public education. During the past two years both the federal and state government have placed many new demands on the K-12 education system. Our students, teachers, and administrators have responded admirably to these growing demands and higher expectations. However, more work must be done to fully implement Public Law 221-1999, the state’s new school accountability system, and the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Recognizing the recent accomplishments by Indiana’s K-12 education system, acknowledging the current fiscal crisis, and seeing where we need to go for the next two years, the Indiana Department of Education has submitted a budget request to the State Budget Agency, State Budget Committee, and the legislature that focuses on just three essential budget priorities to keep public education moving ahead. Those priorities are:
- No new education initiatives..
- Straight-lined funding of state categorical programs at 2001-03 levels, with the restoration of funding for a few essential programs that were cut as a result of the Deficit Management Plan in 2002.
- Focus financial resources on three target programs: 1) tuition support; 2) P.L. 221 technical assistance; and 3) a technology patch program.
Tuition Support
A request of an increase in tuition support of 3.5 percent has been submitted. A 3.5 percent average increase was requested to address the continuing rise in health and liability insurance, hikes in utility costs which each school corporation is facing, and the 2.95 percent average current year increment increase for teacher salaries. Though an increase of this amount may be out of reach, it has been requested to reflect the level of funding that is needed to continue the current level of services schools are providing and to equip school districts with adequate funding to continue school improvement efforts.
For the 2001-03 biennium, the inflation-adjusted change for regular education revenue per student average was only 0.1 percent per year. For total instructional revenue, the per pupil average increase is 0.5 percent per year (compared to 2.4 percent per year from 1993 - 2001).
The $478 million in decreased and delayed payments that occurred this biennium have been very difficult for Indiana’s schools. While the cost of doing business is rising, state monies that had been counted upon for operating expenditures were decreased.
During the 2001 session, a tuition support increase of 3.5 percent was appropriated for the 2001-03 biennium despite the recession and the budget deficit looming in the state. Adequate funding of the tuition support formula is necessary if Indiana is to continue to increase student achievement and if Indiana schools are to implement Public Law 221 successfully.
The importance of tuition support funding cannot be understated. It is an investment in intellectual capital that is the future of our state.
P.L. 221 Technical Assistance
Public Law 221 requires that technical assistance funds be provided to schools that are identified as needing assistance under the continuous improvement model of the law. An appropriation of $10.2 million to fund this mandate is requested.
Of this amount, $4 million could come from two existing categorical funds: 1) Innovative School Improvements/$819,590; and 2) Performance-Based Assessments (previously Incentive Awards)/$3.2 million. The current Performance-Based Assessments/Awards funds should only be a temporary source of funding for technical assistance during the next biennium, as achievement grants must be funded during the 2005-07 biennium to comply with No Child Left Behind and to fully implement the Public Law 221 school accountability program. The balance of the $10.2 million would require new funds.
This funding level allows for those schools who fall in the lowest performance category under Public Law 221 to receive $37,500 to implement strategic programs with technical support from the Department of Education. Approximately 295 schools will be served, half in each year of the biennium.
School Technology Infrastructure Patch Program
A minimum investment in school technology is necessary during the 2003-05 biennium to halt the growing digital divide between wealthy and poor school corporations. Rather than the previous funding level of $40 million appropriated for the 2001-03 biennium, the Department of Education proposes a Technology Patch Program at a cost of $8 million for the biennium. This program could be funded through lottery and gaming revenues as was the Technology Plan Grant Fund between 1997-2001. We risk losing our past investments in technology without the Tech Patch Program.
Nearly 100 school corporations have not received technology funding from the state since 1996-1997. Funding from the first and second year of the Technology Plan Grant Program was disbursed to the poorest districts based on assessed valuation per pupil. Many of these school corporations were scheduled to receive new funding under the Technology Plan Grant Program, Round 2, during the 2001-03 biennium.
Despite a $20 million per year appropriation funded by the General Assembly, these funds were cut 100 percent due to the fiscal crisis facing Indiana. The Technology Plan Grant funds in Round 1 provided needed dollars for technology infrastructure inside school buildings. However, the networks and communications pathways established six and seven years ago were designed prior to the advent of high speed fiber and other technologies that today are considered commonplace. For example, network speeds have increased at least ten-fold in this period, requiring additional cable installations and faster switches to access current software and application programs. Desktop computers acquired in that era are now obsolete. Without assistance to reinvigorate the infrastructure, many schools in this group run the risk of losing the significant investments already made, and the digital divide threatens to hamper student achievement and the learning of skills needed in the 21st century.
The corporations identified to participate in the School Technology Infrastructure Patch Program are those that participated in groups one and two under the Technology Plan Grant Program. The expenditure of the funds would be required to align with the school corporation’s technology plan and include: technical support, wiring, networks, computers, and telecommunications access and services.
As Indiana’s economy improves in subsequent years, the Indiana Department of Education recommends that the Technology Plan Grant Program be reinstated. At that time, schools included in the Technology Patch Program will receive any remaining balance that they are due under the Technology Plan Grant statute.
P.L. 221 Professional Development
As a state, we have delivered world-class academic standards to students, parents, and classroom teachers. To optimize student achievement through these standards, educators need ongoing professional development to make certain those standards are used to the best advantage.
The strongest support of continuation of the Professional Development funding came on August 13, 2002, during Indiana’s P - 16 Pathways to College Policy Forum. More than 140 stakeholders from throughout Indiana met with national experts to formulate answers to four questions. The teacher quality question pertaining to professional development was:
How can we improve and expand teacher professional development activities to provide our current teaching force with the skills and knowledge necessary to teach Indiana’s more rigorous academic standards?
The top two choices by a large majority were:
- Align instructional strategies and curriculum choices to Academic Standards.
- Give teachers professional development days and pay for them.
Though the Department of Education has in past legislative sessions supported the addition of five non-instructional days to the school calendar for professional development at a cost of $100 million, now is not the time for this request. Rather, the Department of Education supports continuing the FY ‘03 appropriation of $16.5 million in each year of the 2003-05 biennium for Public Law 221 professional development programs.
Testing/Remediation Programs
Fall 2002 marked the first administration of ISTEP+ under Indiana’s Academic Standards 2000. This marks an important advancement and improvement to our testing system.
Testing and turn-around time on ISTEP+ has been shortened. Required testing time in Grade 3 has gone from 8 hours in 1997 to 5 hours, 10 minutes in fall 2002. In Grade 6, testing time has gone from 9 hours, 45 minutes in 1997 to 6 hours, 10 minutes in fall 2002. In Grade 8, testing time has gone from 9 hours, 45 minutes in 1997 to 6 hours, 30 minutes in fall 2002. In Grade 10, testing time has gone from 11 hours in 1997 to 7 hours in fall 2002.
This is a decrease in testing time of 37 percent overall. The result is a test that can be administered at any grade level in about the equivalent of two half-days of school.
Turn-around time for receiving test results has gone from 64 business days in 1997 to 36 business days in 2002, a decrease of 45 percent. ISTEP+ data will be used to meet the requirements of both Public Law 221 and the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. On its current timeline for implementation, ISTEP+ meets all federal requirements under the new mandate.
The Department of Education recommends continued funding for testing and remediation at 2001-03 levels.
Full-Day Kindergarten
In 2001, the Indiana General Assembly created a full-day kindergarten program and provided $10 million/year for full-day kindergarten grants. These funds were received by 115 school corporations to provide full-day kindergarten in 305 classrooms during the 2001-02 school year. This year 132 school corporations have received grant funding to extend full-day kindergarten instruction to additional kindergarten classrooms.
The benefits of full-day kindergarten are clear. Full-day kindergarten is an effective strategy to reduce the student achievement gap that exists in Indiana as it helps students, particularly minority students, gain literacy skills faster. This program results in fewer grade retentions and a lower incidence of Title 1 placements. The Department of Education requests the appropriation of $10 million/year to be continued during the 2003-05 biennium to support local schools’ expenditures to provide these experiences, if they choose, to their school communities.
Textbook Reimbursement
During the 2001-02 school year, school corporations were reimbursed by the state 84 percent of the costs incurred for students eligible for free textbooks. The Department of Education will identify and submit to the legislature a fiscal projection on reimbursing school corporations for their textbook expenses during the 2003-2005 biennium. The Department of Education requests that textbook reimbursement be funded to meet 100 percent of corporations’ costs for textbooks for students who qualify for free and reduced-price meals, a commitment the legislature made to school corporations in 1997.
Summer School
The Fiscal Year 2003 appropriation was $21.6 million. The reduced amount of $18.3 million, resulting from the Deficit Management Plan, will provide a reimbursement to schools of 75 percent of costs for 2002 summer school programs for Category 1 courses only. Category 1 courses are in the core subject areas and are not enrichment programs. With increased graduation requirements, including new algebra requirements, and implementation of the Core 40 curriculum, many students cannot meet these requirements without summer school. Wealthier school corporations can operate summer programs while poorer corporations cannot. The Department of Education requests maintaining the FY ‘03 appropriation level for summer school programs.
Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students
Since 1999, the first year state dollars were appropriated for this population, the number of LEP students has more than doubled growing from 9,114 to 20,351 students. Non-native English languages spoken in Indiana schools total 212. The per pupil allocation of state funds has shrunk from $75 in 1999-00 to $31.99 in 2002-03.
While these funds are minimal, they do assist in maintaining programs that help students attain literacy in English, another important aspect to closing the achievement gap. These funds should be maintained in the state budget without further reductions.
Early Intervention Programs
In 1997, the Early Intervention Grant program was created as one component of The Reading and Literacy Initiative for a Better Indiana – an initiative established to improve the literacy skills and reading achievement of Hoosiers. The Early Intervention Grant program is designed to provide intensive literacy and reading instruction to PreK-Grade 2 students.
Since the inception of this grant, nearly 1,000 elementary teachers have been trained and approximately 30,000 students have received intensive reading instruction in Reading Recovery, one researched-based literacy program funded by the Early Intervention Reading Program.
Other successful, research-based literacy programs that are funded by the grant include the Waterford Reading Program, Four-Blocks, Success for All, Literacy Collaborative, and Early Success. Some other locally developed literacy programs are funded as well.
Ongoing evaluation of this grant by the Indiana University Education Policy Center continues to show that the grant program has helped to reduce special education referrals and retention rates, improve ISTEP+ scores, as well as support a balanced reading program in Indiana.
More than $10 million in grant requests were received from school corporations this year. Though the $4 million appropriation is clearly not enough to fund this critical program, due to the significant fiscal concerns facing our state, the Department of Education requests the $4 million appropriation be straight-lined.
School Library Printed Materials
State funding of this matching grant program has assisted school corporations to replenish library printed materials resulting in a 10% increase in circulation (a 45% increase in K-8 schools), an increase in reading scores, and higher levels of independent reading among our young students. (Improving School Libraries and Independent Reading: 1997 - 2002 Impact Evaluation of the K - 12 School Library Printed Materials Grant, July 2002, Indiana Education Policy Center.)
In K-8 school buildings in 1997, schools purchased 395,645 new books. This preceded the state’s contribution of funding for school library printed materials. In 2002, an additional 222,432 books were purchased, an increase of 45%.
Underscoring the need to provide printed materials to school libraries is the fact that Indiana was ranked 48th in the nation in the ratio of K - 8 students to librarians. In the absence of librarians, providing funds for books takes on added meaning.