IPS to lose millions under new budget

Lawmakers passed a new state budget on Tuesday that gives public schools a 1% increase next year. Growing schools will do better than that and shrinking districts will lose money.

Indianapolis Public Schools will lose $8 million next year and $12 million in 2011. The district is losing some 1500 students a year. At the beginning of the special session, IPS faced losing much more than that.

"I think they tried to do the best they could. I'm disappointed with their final decision but you know the crying game is over. We got to suck it up and get going," said IPS Superintendent Dr. Eugene White.

And to get going, Dr. White said he faces cutting more people and programs. In the spring, White cut the budget by $25 million by cutting 400 teaching positions. He said the next round of cuts will be in administration.

"We're going to have to have a pretty deep cut. We have more than 300 and some administrators over all."

White is hopeful the new law and public policy high school at Shortridge and the art and humanities high school at Broad Ripple will keep students enrolled in IPS.

But until enrollment trends turn around, other popular programs are in jeopardy.

"Some are very expensive and we're going to have to revisit those,” said White. “Our key learning program is probably our most expensive program.”

"I really am worried about it because they're actually making the classes a lot bigger, which is a lot harder to focus. You have less teachers so it's going to be a lot harder," said Anyea Gooch, an IPS student.

White said, "We do not intend to lose all the gains that we have. We worked too hard for this."

Fourteen IPS schools have closed during the past two years. White said he doesn't want to close any buildings next year because he said the district needs stability. However the following year, he said its possible more schools will be shut down.