Republican Senate Leaders Outline 2018 Priorities, Including School Funding

President Pro Tempore David Long (R-Fort Wayne) details the Senate Republicans\’ goals for the 2018 session. (Lauren Chapman/IPB News)

Senate Republican leaders outlined their 2018 priorities Monday. Those priorities include Sunday alcohol sales, the roll-out of mandated prescription monitoring to prevent opioid abuse, workforce development, and the regulation of property seizure.

Also included in those priorities is a bill to cover a school funding gap, by allowing the State Budget Agency to transfer reserve money.

Sen. Ryan Mishler (R-Bremen) estimates it will take more than $16 million to cover the deficit, caused an enrollment miscalculation. His proposed legislation would distribute this money by increasing the amount each school gets per student.

“If I have the same amount of students as I had last year – if I have 1,500 students last year and I have, even, 1,400 this year, so I have a decline, I still get more money because my per-pupil amount will go up when I backfill,” Mishler says.

Indiana saw a net gain of 2,200 students, mostly in public schools.