School officials blame legislature for districts finances
08/25/2014

 

Administrators and school board members from Munster schools in Northwest Indiana are blaming state school funding cuts for their district’s deficits and likely program cuts.

 

The district has made cuts from the Superintendent’s office, support staff and teachers in attempts to head off further deficits. Teachers in the district have had salaries frozen in place since 2010. 

 

Munster’s Superintendent tells The Times:

 

They were able to reduce the deficit over four years with cost-cutting and cooperation from the teachers union, which included a reduction in staff and early retirement incentives.

 

This story from Munster could be about virtually any school corporation in Indiana which are struggling to maintain quality schools for Indiana’s students. Budgeting and misplaced fiscal priorities have been hurting Indiana school districts since 2009.

 

Tax caps, corporate tax cuts and school funding cuts have had a dramatic impact on public school budgets from around the state. This has led to various ballot referendums in the past 4 years.

 

As we reported earlier this year, more than 90 school districts have held referendums to date. Not much more than half have passed, forcing schools to cut important student programs and teachers to lost jobs or vital benefits for their families.

 

Cuts to funding Indiana’s schools continues despite the state amassing a $2 billion surplus.

 

State leaders have an opportunity to stop the pain inflicted on public schools in next session’s budget writing. It is time for our legislature to reprioritize our state’s budget and fully fund one of our state’s most important assets – Indiana’s public schools.