Educators demand more money

INDIANAPOLIS -- David Pirtle has already received a pink slip.\nThe 30-year teacher from Sullivan, Ind., learned he may lose his job after the district announced plans to close one of its three elementary schools.\nBut he hasn't given up hope. Pirtle joined about 2,000 teachers, school administrators and parents at the Statehouse Tuesday demanding more money for schools despite the state's $800 million budget deficit.\nThey chanted "save our schools" and waved flags and signs, and some wore somber black clothes and pink ribbons to signify potential teacher layoffs if more money is not found. The General Assembly faces a midnight-Tuesday deadline to pass a two-year state budget and adjourn.\n"We're not afraid to work, but when you keep adding things that we have to do and don't provide funding, we can't keep up," Pirtle said. "We've proven statewide that Indiana kids can compete, and what's our reward? What's my reward?"\n"I probably should retire."\nEducators are afraid of funding cuts, limited budgets and lawmakers who believe schools should do more with less, said Eugene White, superintendent of Washington Township schools in suburban Indianapolis.\n"We accept the children, we accept the challenges and we accept the mandates," White said. "We haven't complained, but the mandates and accountability are not free."\nSeveral speakers said lawmakers should consider raising taxes to bolster education funding.\n"I don't care what it takes. I don't care if it's taxes," said Doug Williams, president of the Indiana Urban Schools Association. "The single greatest priority is Indiana's public schools."\nLegislators from both parties say schools are a top priority, but there has been virtually no talk among them or Gov. Frank O'Bannon about raising taxes. It is something they did just last June, in part to reduce Indiana's deficit.\nBudget bills passed by Democrats who lead the House and Republicans who control the Senate are similar in many ways but differ vastly in the way money would be divided among Indiana's 294 public school districts.\nThe House plan increases basic funding an average of 2 percent statewide and ensures no district gets less than 1.75 percent. It also caps increases at 3 percent, which would hurt districts with fast-growing enrollments.\nRep. William Crawford, chairman of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, said the House would not concede on a minimum increase for schools.\n"There will be absolutely no reduction in funding for any school corporation in the state of Indiana," said Crawford, D-Indianapolis. "They will have increases and we will stick by our guns."\nThe Senate Republican plan does not include minimum guarantees or caps on increases. It gives all districts a set amount per student, then provides more money for students who face socio-economic challenges, including poverty and single-parent households.\nThe Republican senator who developed the new formula said budget negotiators in the Senate have offered more money to ensure no district loses funding.\nBut Sen. Luke Kenley, who represents the growing Noblesville district north of Indianapolis, said House Democrats have offered only token concessions.\n"The art of negotiation is compromise," he said. "I think we in the Senate have shown a lot of it. I don't think they've shown any"