Parents are getting a big win as their kids go back to school this year: no more textbook fees. But as the details unfold, school districts around the state are preparing for a shortfall between what the state is going to give them and what the actual costs are.
Lawmakers, pushed by GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb, did the right thing in the state budget and eliminated those pesky fees, which sometimes cost parents hundreds of dollars per child.
Indiana was one of only seven states to charge the fees even though the state constitution requires a free public education.
But there are questions about whether legislators set aside enough money to make up the costs.
Hamilton Heights School Corporation and Greenfield-Central’s superintendents told Fox59 the money the schools will receive won’t be enough to cover the full costs. And Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County told the Daily Reporter it will have a shortfall of about $800,000.
To start, this is about more than textbooks — it’s about “curricular materials.”
The Indiana Department of Education (DOE) defines that as “books; hardware that will be consumed, accessed, or used by a single student during a semester or school year; computer software; and digital content.”
Importantly, that includes one-to-one laptops or tablets given to students in some districts.
The process
The general plan moving forward is this: schools in the coming weeks and months will send in their curricular costs to the Indiana Department of Education. Officials there will then take the total and divide it by the number of students statewide. That will give an amount per student that will be multiplied by how many students each district has. Then, that amount will be given in one lump sum to individual school districts in December.
Lawmakers appropriated $160 million for the initiative’s inaugural year, based on an estimate of $150 per student for the state’s 1 million pupils.
But where did that $150 number come from, and is it really enough?
State Budget Director Zac Jackson said the $151.88 average was calculated using the Free and Reduced Lunch reimbursement claims submitted to DOE by school corporations for fiscal year 2022. Previously, the state would reimburse districts for curricular materials for just those students on free and reduced lunch: $66.9 million in claims for a total of 440,491 students, averaging $151.88 per student.
So that average was applied to all students to come up with the appropriation in the budget.
Winners and losers
Jackson does acknowledge the average will likely be enough to cover some school districts’ actual costs, but not all.
For instance, $151 is clearly not enough to cover the cost of a laptop or tablet in one-to-one schools. And some high school students taking college-level dual credit courses will have more expensive textbooks.
“There probably are some growing pains with this,” Jackson said.
The law specifically says schools can’t charge parents for curricular materials anymore, so districts will have to cover the remaining cost through their tuition support appropriations. Jackson and others note the legislature increased funding to schools in the most recent budget.
Various school officials have talked about being creative, including Business Director Mark Snyder at Southwest Allen County Schools. During a recent school board discussion, he said he anticipates a “significant loss in revenue. It doesn’t mean we can’t do something — it just means we’re going to have to be creative.”
A board member mentioned backlash the state might receive, but Snyder also reminded her that voters will be happy with annual savings of between $150 and $500.
Lawmakers made the right call in eliminating the fees. And I hope they do the same next year and supplement the funding if it is found that some districts are losing money that could otherwise go to teacher salaries and other necessary expenses.
Niki Kelly is editor-in-chief of indianacapitalchronicle.com, where this commentary first appeared. She has covered Indiana politics and the Indiana Statehouse since 1999 for publications including the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Send comments to [email protected].
