STATE HOUSE–Who’s going to get what money next year, is a question state lawmakers are working on answering. They’ll be working harder on it during the legislative session, which starts in January.
If you’re wondering if teachers are going to get paid more, Indiana House Ways and Means Chairman Dr. Tim Brown would only say it’s not the legislature’s responsibility to guarantee teacher pay raises.
“Local school boards determine teacher raises,” said the Republican from Crawfordsville, during a meeting with reporters Monday.
LINK: Hear the whole press interview at IndyPolitics.org
But, the legislature determines how much money goes to education.
“We haven’t sat down and divided it up yet. There’ll be some amount of increase of K-12. But, then we’ll have to look at other areas,” he said. “We keep hearing all the time about what are the responsibilities of local boards, and a local board very much is hiring their staff and paying their staff. And, so, it’s their responsibility.”
Statehouse leaders told IndyPolitics.org, although the budget forecasts are predicting more than $800 million in new revenue over the next couple of years, there still won’t be much to go around due to increases in Medicaid costs and the Department of Child Services.
“It’s still a very tight environment when you look at what Division of Child Services has been spending over their budgeted amount,” said Brown. “We have a lot of extra money that’s gonna go to that right away. And so, it makes the other issues that much tougher.”
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