Lawmakers celebrated after they said they protected K-12 education funding above all else as they faced a $2 billion budget shortfall. But the Indiana School for the Deaf saw its funding slashed by 5 percent.
One advocate worries the cuts will “gravely impact” the school’s ability to function.
Geoffrey Bignell is the director of advocacy for the Indiana Association of the Deaf. He said the budget cuts to the School for the Deaf could affect programs like afterschool care and extracurriculars.
The School for the Blind and Visually Impaired also received a 5 percent cut in the new state budget, HEA 1001. But that school has about half the enrollment of the School for the Deaf — meaning per pupil funding is much higher at the School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
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Bignell, through an interpreter, said that points to a systemic problem in which he said the state appears to prefer an oral approach to education.
“Where they want deaf people to behave like a hearing person and they don’t want Deaf culture, deaf language, ASL linguistics to thrive,” Bignell said. “So, they crunch the budget.”
The primary funding for traditional public K-12 and charter schools increased 2 percent in the new budget.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.