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(INDIANAPOLIS) — As legislators start work on a new state budget, there’s more agreement than

usual on what it should include, but the parties still have some differences.

Both Republicans and Democrats say the new budget should include additional help for small

businesses pushed to the financial brink by the pandemic. And there’s general support for increasing

school spending, but Democrats want money earmarked specifically for teacher pay. Republicans

have consistently said their goal is to give local schools the resources to pay teachers more, while

keeping locals in charge of deciding whether and how much to raise pay.

Senate President Pro Tem Rod Bray (R-Martinsville) says he’s optimistic legislators will be able to

increase funding for schools. Holcomb’s budget calls for a 2% increase in the first year of

the two-year budget while other state spending remains flat, with an additional 1% the

second year. It would add up to an additional $377 million over two years. Bray says he can’t

promise those exact amounts — he notes the legislature’s nonpartisan forecasters will update their

state revenue estimates in April, just before lawmakers finalize the budget. But he calls Holcomb’s

proposal “a good starting point.”

And while Bray says it’s impressive that Indiana can afford to pay off some bonds ahead of schedule

as Holcomb has proposed, he says legislators will have to assess whether that’s the best return on

investment as the state tries to get Hoosiers back on their feet after the pandemic upheaval.

Holcomb’s budget calls for the early payoff of $300 million in debt for the extension of I-69 and

a handful of state park construction projects. The administration says it would save 66-million dollars in future interest payments.