Here are some things that will kick you into high gear as you contact your legislators:

• IPS could lose as much as $76.8 million in funding over the next three years, although other Indiana school districts will lose nothing and still others will get funding increases.
• The districts that stand to lose the most funding are urban districts that serve a high percentage of poor children and minority children.
• Parents from Fishers are contacting legislators to ask for more money for their schools; we have to speak up for IPS students, too.
• High poverty schools need to provide the same level of services to children as wealthier districts! 
• The budget proposed by the Governor would slash funding for instruction aimed at helping children learn to speak the English language.  IPS would have an additional $6 million per year in unreimbursed costs if that budget is adopted. 
• Some policymakers mistakenly believe that the Title I and IDEA (special education) funding that IPS will receive through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (stimulus money) will make up for the steep cuts in state funding.  IPS needs and appreciates the stimulus funds, but those dollars cannot be used to preserve programs and pay teachers.  Federal law requires that money to be directed toward specific, one-time expenditures.
• The Circuit Breaker tax caps already disproportionately reduce funding for urban school districts.
• The budget proposed by the Governor takes away support money that IPS was to have received in 2011 to offset losses from the Circuit Breaker tax caps. 
• IPS is also losing money for its Capital Projects Fund – the fund that pays for building maintenance, technology and even some utility costs.  Despite language in HEA1001-2008 that says the Department of Local Government Finance “shall adjust…the tax rates of any political subdivision or taxing unit as necessary to account for changes made by this act,” DLGF has refused to adjust CPF rates to prevent losses to school districts from the new homeowner’s deduction enacted as part of the 2008 property tax reform. IPS estimates that it will lose between $4 million to $7 million per year in CPF funding as a result of DLGF’s actions.
• IPS – like other Marion County school districts – has not received normal distributions of property tax money in 2008 and 2009 because of Marion County’s reassessment and late property tax bills.
• 40% of the property in the IPS district is exempt from property taxes.
• The additional budget cuts are on top of other reductions IPS has experienced over the past few years.  IPS has already closed schools and eliminated some positions.