Funding requests for high ability students, public schools dominate subcommittee budget talks

A Senate school funding subcommittee heard multiple hours of testimony Monday amid ongoing lawmaker discussions around the next two-year state budget. (Getty Images)
Advocates for Indiana's high ability students descended on the Indiana Statehouse Monday to make their case for continued funding in the next state budget.
Since 2007, Indiana public school corporations — including charter schools — are required to identify high ability K-12 students and provide 'appropriately differentiated' curriculum and instruction in core language arts and math courses. Oftentimes, that means students compete coursework typically intended for higher grade levels.
Julie Klusas Gasper, executive director of the Indiana Association for the Gifted and Talented, told a Senate school funding subcommittee Monday that there are 130,000 'gifted and talented' students across the state.
She urged lawmakers to retain — not reduce — budget dollars for high ability grants, emphasizing that Indiana is one of only 15 states to fund high ability programming.
'We are the gold standard among state gifted programs,' Gasper said. 'Other states look to us as the example of how to do this.'
In 2007, lawmakers earmarked $12.7 million to the gifted and talented line item in the state budget. Gasper said that's equal to nearly $20 million in 2025. IDOE uses a formula to decide how many high ability grants go to each school.
Flash forward to 2023, the Indiana General Assembly allocated $15 million to the program.
Gov. Mike Braun proposed a reduction down to $13 million for the high ability line item in the next biennial budget, however. House Republicans upped the allocation back to $15 million, but it remains unclear what the opposing chamber will do.
Gasper called on Senate budget writers to keep funding at $15 million. She said those dollars are necessary for schools to carry out universal testing of students — all students are required by law to be evaluated for high ability performance — as well as for teachers' professional development and evaluations to ensure local high ability programs are effective.
Indiana college students who are studying to be teachers are not required to be trained for high ability instruction. Gasper said that increases the importance of grant dollars for 'both new and experienced teachers … to learn how to best instruct these students.'
'What we're doing in Indiana, it works — it's really working,' Gasper continued. 'This money is essential for these kids. It is critical. It is literally a lifeline for them, and this is the only money that's allocated (in the budget).'
Gasper further pointed to IDOE's Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) dashboard, which shows that 99.7% of Hoosier high ability students passed the I-READ as third grade students in 2018. The same year, 86.1% of non-high ability students passed the standardized test.
Strong results among the student group remained high in subsequent academic years; as of 2024, 99.3% of high ability students passed the I-READ, according to IDOE.
High ability high schoolers are also high performers. Per the GPS dashboard, 99.1% of high ability students successfully completed the Graduation Pathways.
High ability teachers, parents and students — many from the Perry Township district on the south side of Indianapolis — gave examples of specialized coursework and training that 'wouldn't be possible' if their schools didn't have access to extra state funding.
'Earlier in my career, about 20 years ago … I had no idea what I was doing. I thought they were the easy kids that just needed more work to be challenged. With my zero training, that was a complete disaster at the beginning of my high ability teaching,' said Nina Bowman, a language arts teacher for a high ability eighth graders at Perry Meridian Middle School.
I can now effectively support their need to organize this vast amount of thought swirling in their heads.
– Nina Bowman, a language arts teacher for a high ability eighth graders at Perry Meridian Middle School
'I quickly and desperately needed opportunities to grow, to figure out how to handle their incredibly complex needs. … The professional development that I've had through our high ability funding over the last 20 years has made me a much better teacher. And now that I have been able to do that, I can design curriculum that is not harder, but it's deeper and more complex and it is engaging,' she added. 'I can now effectively support their need to organize this vast amount of thought swirling in their heads.'
Adelynn Davis, a junior at Southport High School in Indianapolis who has participated in high ability programming since kindergarten, said the more rigorous workload 'has instilled time management, study skills and perseverance.' She now spends half of her school days at Central Night Career Center for pilot training.
'Taking advanced placement classes has given me confidence and made my career goal of becoming a pilot more attainable,' Davis said. 'In regards to time management, I've learned to balance my extracurriculars like sports, clubs and jobs with my studies. Since elementary school, with individualized assignments, I've been able to break assignments down into manageable steps — which keeps me focused and less likely to be overwhelmed.'
Although senators additionally set aside time for committee discussion on summer school funding, no one signed up to testify on the topic.
A mix of testimony from dozens of others largely centered around proposed budget splits between traditional public, charter and private voucher schools.
As the Senate takes its turn at the next two-year state budget, investment in K-12 public education is a focal point.
House Republicans opted to increase K-12 funding by 2% each year, but that boost includes dollars for fully funded virtual school students and additional money for 'school choice' vouchers.
Public school advocates say that the increase for traditional schools alone will be closer to just 1.3%.
Indiana bill to shift more dollars from traditional publics to charter schools earns Senate approval
'If you increase the foundation amount, that helps every school district … and can be used for all sorts of purposes,' said Denny Costerison, with the Indiana Association of School Business Officials. 'The foundation amount, for me, is the key. It is the funding base that will have for the next two years … and we hope that we can find some additional dollars to continue to put into there.'
DaLynn Jones, of Mishawaka, said 'public education wasn't the best choice' for her children. Without access to Indiana's robust private school voucher program — Choice Scholarships — 'affording private schooling seemed impossible.'
'Our children are our future. In my household, raising four young ladies while staying deeply rooted in our faith and confident in their identities is a top priority. Thanks to the voucher program, we can now make that a reality. My children are thriving in an environment that suits them best,' Jones said. 'I echo the concerns of hundreds of moms when I say they are struggling. They are struggling with their educational choices on how to best to provide for their children.'
As an 'Indiana Hoosier mama bear,' Jones asked lawmakers to green light the governor's proposal to make the near-universal voucher program available statewide.
Charter school representatives also continued their call for additional state dollars. Separate from the budget, a hotly-debated bill moving through the legislature would require all Indiana public school districts to share property tax dollars with charters in their attendance boundaries if 100 or more students leave the traditional district for brick-and-mortar charters.
Although virtual charters would not qualify under the latest draft of the bill, Indiana Connections Academy Executive Director Kelly Simone requested for the Senate's version of the budget to retain House-passed language providing 'funding parity' for online schools.
Indiana virtual school students receive the least amount of funding of all school options in Indiana, Simone said; for every dollar spent in support of traditional public schools, a student choosing a virtual school receives about 85 cents.
'The funding we receive through the state budget is critical to our survival. It is our only source of revenue. We do not receive, nor are we asking for local property tax — which in 2024, averaged to around $4,500 per student,' she continued. 'I can assure you that we use every dollar that we receive to provide necessary services to our students. Without adequate and equitable funding, how are we to implement the new graduation requirements? How are we to accommodate new legislation?'
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