Indianapolis Public Schools leaders say the district faces a $24 million gap in special-education funding and plan to ask state lawmakers for more in the next legislative session.
A Widening Gap Between Cost and Funding
IPS says it faces an estimated $24 million gap in special-education funding, a figure also cited in a report from WFYI on an IPS school board candidate forum earlier this month.
IPS plans to ask Indiana lawmakers for more special-education funding in the next legislative session.
A Figure That's Shifted Before
The $24 million gap IPS is now citing is smaller than a figure the district pointed to earlier this year. In June, IPS Commissioner Ashley Thomas said state and federal underfunding had left the district facing a special-education gap of about $40 million, according to the same WFYI outlet's coverage of a charter-referendum rate vote. The dossier does not clarify whether the two estimates were calculated using the same definitions or time periods, but both were cited by IPS officials as evidence that the current funding structure doesn't match what it actually costs to serve students with disabilities.
That earlier report also noted that IPS and the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation have argued the state should be the one to cover the special-education and English-learner funding gap, not local taxpayers or the district's general fund. A proposed referendum rate discussed at that time would generate about $95 million a year beginning in 2027, with some of that money intended to support students with disabilities. Even with that additional local funding, the district said it would still need to cut an estimated $20 million more for the 2027-28 school year.
Statehouse Reaction Is Already Split
State lawmakers will weigh IPS's special-education funding request as they prepare the next two-year state budget, and reaction inside the Statehouse is already divided along familiar lines. Indiana House Republicans have released information showing the state has continued to increase K-12 education funding since 2016, though that information does not specify how much state funding each individual district receives or whether it has kept pace with rising special-education costs.
Rep. Ed Delaney, a House Democrat who sits on the House Ways and Means and Education committees, pushed back sharply on that framing. He said underfunding vulnerable students and then telling traditional public-school districts to absorb the cost is “insulting and cruel.” IPS leaders say they want special-education funding to better reflect what it actually costs to serve students, a position Superintendent Johnson has also tied to broader state funding, telling officials in June that she wanted lawmakers to lobby for more state funding, particularly for students with disabilities and English learners, per WFYI's earlier report.
Budget Pressures Go Beyond One District
IPS isn't alone in watching the state's books closely. Indiana's budget allocates roughly $9.4 billion in K-12 funding for fiscal year 2026 and $9.6 billion for fiscal year 2027, with categorical dollars set aside for students in poverty, special education, and English-learner programs, according to Chalkbeat Indiana. The current budget maintains 2% annual increases in K-12 tuition support, but the state's latest revenue forecast came in $2 billion below expectations heading into the next biennial budget, a gap that could complicate any push for new special-education dollars.
Not every voice at the table is asking for more money outright. At an IPS school board candidate forum, candidate Derek Redelman suggested district leaders should also be asking lawmakers a different question: “Okay, how can we help you do better with the money that you have?” Most candidates at that same forum, however, said they want the General Assembly to provide more funding for schools overall, particularly for special education — echoing the district's own position as it heads into the 2027 legislative session.
