Sad, but necessary

WE SAY The state budget sadly but necessarily cuts urban/rural school funding.

Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the state budget June 30, four hours before the old budget expired (apparently, we college kids aren’t the only ones who sweat out deadlines). In the battle over whose budget would be drafted – the House Democrats’ or the Senate Republicans’ – the Republican plan won out. Including federal stimulus funds, the two-year, $28.5 billion budget manages to keep $1 billion in reserves.

Daniels wanted, more than anything, “to limit spending enough to preserve our surplus and thereby protect taxpayers against the tax increases happening in virtually every other state,” he said. In that respect, the budget was a success.

But it comes at the expense of several other projects that could have received more funding, including urban and rural K-12 education.

This was a necessary cut, but some are actually glad to see it. Inevitably, the cuts will somewhat narrow the discrepancies in urban and suburban per pupil expenditures. Indianapolis Public Schools will receive $8,844 per student in state funds and $11,535 per student when federal funds are counted, said Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, according to the Indianapolis Star. Meanwhile “Carmel Clay Schools, in one of the wealthiest suburban areas in the state, gets $5,596 per student in state funds and $5,738 per student in total funds,” the Star said.

But a per-student expenditure ratio is misleading. It cannot tell us where the money went. For instance, urban schools, which typically have more poor students, must spend more for the free lunch program. Even if not all of their students use the program, it will still be incorporated in an average student expenditure.

In general, urban schools typically have to deal with things that should be outside of a school’s duties or fault, but which affect their students’ performance nonetheless – crime, the number of non-English speakers, etc. To combat all these, it requires more school expenditures.

Though it is true urban schools are facing a declining enrollment, make no mistake, Indianapolis Public Schools and other urban school districts are going to lose money they need.

Urban and rural schools are going to see their working budgets drop. Test scores and graduation rates definitely show Indianapolis Public Schools’ underperformance – to put it politely – but that doesn’t mean more money won’t help. The budget cuts were necessary, but this was a big loss, not some gain.