Recently, there have been numerous budget cuts for Indiana schools. For Bloomington High School South these cuts have taken fairly innocuous forms, such as not hiring teachers to fill the positions of those who retired. However, aside from those and a generally reduced budget, no programs were slashed, and no teachers have been laid off. While seemingly benign, these cuts have had a real impact on South.

Senate Bill 1 was recently passed, authored by Travis Holdman (R-Markle), its primary effect is reducing property taxes for homeowners in Indiana. The bill was extremely divisive due to the massive impact it would have on school budgets. As Dr. Markay Winston noted in her description of Monroe County Community School Corporation’s (MCCSC) two-year plans, SB 1 “could result in a loss of revenue between 8-32.4 million dollars for the next three years.” Along with this bill, which by itself would have caused numerous budget issues, was Senate Bill 518, which requires that schools share state funding with charter schools. The splitting of funds forces public schools to further cut back on their budgets.

These cuts have had an impact on public schools in Indiana and will continue to have an impact. For example, 61 of the health, custodial, and culinary staff have been laid off since these cuts went into effect. Additionally, there is a projected loss of 6.2 dollars of budget over the next year alone. Hopefully Winston’s proposed measures will reduce the damage of these budget cuts for MCCSC.