SNAP cuts could hurt Indiana schools
Why it matters: SNAP is part of Indiana's K–12 school funding formula. If the program is cut in a way that limits eligibility and reduces the number of Hoosiers receiving food aid benefits, schools could see funding cuts.
How it works: The funding formula starts with a base appropriation based on the number of students enrolled in each district.
Districts get additional dollars for things like the number of students living in low-income households, receiving special education services, learning English and taking advanced classes.
The additional dollars for students from low-income households is called the complexity index and the state bases it on the number of students in foster care, receiving benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program or receiving SNAP benefits.
Between the lines: Complexity is supposed to be a proxy for at-risk students, designed to give more funding to schools with a high proportion of students who have more needs.
State of play: If fewer families qualify for SNAP benefits, fewer students will be counted in the complexity index and their schools won't receive the extra dollars to support them.
Schools have already argued that complexity undercounts the number of at-risk students they serve.
On average, the complexity index is 65% lower than the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch — another proxy for low-income or at-risk students that Indiana previously used for calculating complexity.
According to an analysis from the Indiana Urban Schools Association, 19 other states still use lunch assistance for their complexity grants.
What they're saying: David Marcotte, executive director of the association, told Axios that urban districts are very concerned about potential cuts to SNAP — both for the impacts on their families and on school budgets.
"It has been a long-standing foundational understanding that educating students of poverty requires additional resources, mainly staffing, which is the reason the complexity index was established in the school funding formula," he said.
"A reduction of the complexity index would have a negative impact on the amount of resources available for educating children in poverty."
Yes, but: The state has been moving toward a flatter funding model for years, in which the funding gap between schools is shrinking — regardless of their student demographics.
The House Republican budget proposal keeps complexity funding flat for the next two years while increasing the base funding that schools get for all students.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Secret Service halts ex-director Kimberley Cheatle's security clearance renewal
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle — under fire over the Pennsylvania assassination attempt against President Trump — won't have her top-level security clearance renewed, The Post has learned. The Secret Service decided not to extend Chealte's clearance after opposition from Republicans in Congress, namely Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). 'Director [Sean] Curran has been modernizing the intelligence apparatus within the agency,' a spokesperson told The Post. 'During that process, he has determined that not all former directors will have their clearances renewed.' Advertisement The decision to end Cheatle's security clearance came after RealClearPolitics inquired about Johnson's opposition to renewal, claimed the outlet, which was the first to report the change. Johnson, who helms the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, had probed the Secret Service's failures leading up to the Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. 3 Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was at the center of controversy over the security failures preceding the assassination attempt against President Trump. The Washington Post via Getty Images Advertisement 3 Sen. Ron Johnson had opposed Kimberly Cheatle getting her security clearance renewed. AP He had been fiercely critical of Cheatle, who led the agency from 2022 to 2024, before resigning about 10 days after a bullet grazed the president's right ear during a rally in July of last year. 'The U.S. Secret Service sponsors security clearances for all the former directors for their knowledge of operational and national security matters,' a Secret Service spokesperson explained. 'The purpose for this was so the agency could maintain formal and protected communication, including potentially sensitive and classified matters with former officials.' Advertisement Trump later tapped Curran, who previously led his detail, to helm the agency. Cheatle, who was picked by former first lady Jill Biden, has taken heat for a variety of security failures leading up to the chilling attempt on Trump's life. Multiple GOP-led probes into the assassination attempt cited sources who alleged Cheatle's team had turned down Curran's petitions for more security assets during the 2024 cycle. Last month, on the first anniversary of the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) accused her of lying to Congress when she denied accusations she turned down requests for more resources for Trump's security. Advertisement 'Any assertion or implication that I provided misleading testimony is patently false and does a disservice to those men and women on the front lines who have been unfairly disciplined for a team, rather than individual, failure,' she fired back in a statement provided by her attorney. During his second term, Trump has repeatedly moved to ax security clearances for former officials in key posts. In most cases, he's gone further than Curran and outright revoked access. This includes his January executive order to revoke clearances for the infamous 'spies who lied' — the 51 intelligence officials who signed onto a letter claiming The Post's bombshell story on Hunter Biden's laptop had the 'classic earmarks of Russian disinformation.' 3 The Butler, Pa., rally attack marked the closest a gunman had gotten to killing a US president since 1981. AP Despite his terrifying brush with death, Trump has taken a charitable approach to the Secret Service. 'They should have had communications with the local police, they weren't tied in, and they should have been tied in. So there were mistakes made,' Trump told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump on Fox News' 'My View' last month. 'But I was satisfied in terms of the bigger plot, the larger plot, I was satisfied,' he added. 'And I have great confidence in these people. I know the people. And they're very talented, very capable.' Advertisement 'But they had a bad day. And I think they'll admit that. They had a rough day.' Last month, the Secret Service faced another security snafu when an agent attempted to sneak his wife onto an Air Force One jet during Trump's trip to Scotland.
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘No obvious frontrunner.' Why Harris' exit has scrambled the race for California governor
For months, candidates in the race to become California's next governor had waited for a pivotal question to be settled: Will former Vice President Kamala Harris run or not? With Harris' announcement this week that she's out, a new question arose: Who's the front-runner now? Because of Harris' star power, the answer is far from simple. For months, other candidates saw their campaign planning and fundraising undercut by the possibility she would run, meaning the race got a big reset seconds after Harris made her announcement Wednesday. Some political observers give the nod to former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, who appears to have a small leg up over her opponents. Porter was the only Democrat to receive double-digit support in multiple polls when Harris was not included in the field. A prodigious fundraiser while she was in Congress representing an Orange County district, Porter reported a strong infusion of cash in the months after launching her campaign in March, and said she raised $250,000 in the 36 hours after Harris' announcement. 'The enthusiasm we're seeing from donors at every level shows that Californians know how critical this race is,' Porter said in an email blast. Other candidates — including Xavier Becerra, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration and a former California attorney general — have also tried to assert that, with Harris out, they are moving up. 'BECERRA CAMPAIGN BUILDING MOMENTUM IN 'WIDE OPEN' RACE,' read the subject line of an email sent Friday by the Becerra campaign, saying he is 'well-positioned to unite a broad swath of voters around his plans to make health care and housing less expensive and more accessible.' Outside observers, however, said that none of the candidates really stand out from the pack at the moment. 'That these remaining candidates are jockeying for bragging rights about who may be the front-runner — it's to be expected, but it's ludicrous,' said Garry South, a veteran Democratic strategist who has worked on a number of past gubernatorial campaigns, including for former Gov. Gray Davis. 'With Harris opting out, there will likely be no obvious front-runner among the remainder of the current field for quite some time,' South said. 'None of these candidates start out with statewide name recognition.' With such a wide-open field, factors such as endorsements and communication strategies will be important to watch, experts said. So will the candidates' ability to raise money and use it to broaden their appeal. 'I would start spending money on social media, on television advertising, on every single platform I could find to build up my name ID,' South said, but 'none of them have enough money to do that at the moment.' With Harris out, will she back someone else? 'Obviously if she did endorse, that would be a big plus' for whichever candidate she rallied behind, said John Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. Harris has long relationships with several of the candidates in the race. A source familiar with her thinking told The Times after Harris bowed out that she was still considering whether and how to approach the governor's race. Other endorsements could affect the race as well. Hours after Harris announced her decision, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the influential former House Speaker, appeared on CNN to endorse Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, whom she has known for years. 'We have many great candidates, one in particular Eleni Tsakopoulos, whom I support,' Pelosi said, referring to Kounalakis by her maiden name. Kounalakis' father, the wealthy developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, helped bankroll an independent expenditure committee supporting his daughter's 2018 campaign for lieutenant governor. Political observers are watching to see if he dumps money into a similar effort backing her gubernatorial campaign. Pitney said Pelosi's opinion 'would carry a lot more weight' if she were still speaker. He said it 'isn't necessarily going to sway a large chunk of the electorate,' but could be important if it sways Bay Area donors. A former GOP legislative aide and national party staffer who renounced his membership in the Republican Party the night Trump was elected in 2016, Pitney said that endorsements are far from a determining factor in today's political landscape. 'I hesitate to rule anybody out, because very often candidates seem to come out of nowhere — like Mamdani in New York City,' he said, referring to the sudden rise and stunning upset primary win of 33-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the New York mayoral race. Pitney added that experience in government and administrative leadership also matters, but could also cut against candidates at a time when many voters are frustrated and want something new. For example, Antonio Villaraigosa, the former state Assembly speaker and L.A. mayor who is in his 70s, 'obviously has a long history, but that long history is both an advantage and a disadvantage,' Pitney said. Villaraigosa has said his campaign is 'about the future.' But voters 'may not regard him as a fresh face,' Pitney said. None of the current candidates for governor have the same profile as Harris. In fact, they are broadly unknown to huge swaths of the electorate. That means they have their work cut out for them, Pitney and South said — namely in terms of fundraising. South said that there 'is no question that the Democratic donor base has basically been sitting on their haunches waiting to see what Harris is going to do.' But, he said, he hasn't seen any sign yet that donors have picked a favorite candidate now that she's out, either — which is a problem for candidates with little or no name recognition. 'None of these candidates in the remaining field with Harris out have enough money in the bank to run a statewide campaign for governor,' he said. South said that could change if Kounalakis gets another major infusion of cash from her father and once again taps her personal wealth. At the same time, there could also be a 'huge blowback' from that sort of splashy family spending, South said, especially if Kounalakis' opponents pounced on it as distasteful. 'We have not tended in this state to elect moneyed people who try to buy the governor's race,' he said. South said he is watching to see if big Bay Area donors decide to back Porter 'because of her profile as a progressive.' Los Angeles developer and 2022 mayoral candidate Rick Caruso 'could be a force' if he were to enter the race, Pitney said, because 'he has prominence in Southern California and also has a lot of money.' The most recent fundraising reports, which were due Thursday night, shine a light on candidates' coffers — but only through the end of June, well before Harris dropped out. The Democrats who do not have the potential to self-fund their campaigns reported having millions of dollars in cash on hand as of June 30, including some who transferred money from prior campaign committees to their gubernatorial accounts. Former legislative leader Toni Atkins reported having $4.3 million in the campaign, while raising $648,000 and spending $549,000 in the first six months of this year. Villaraigosa raised $1.1 million and spent $550,000 this year, but reported $3.3 million cash on hand based on fundraising he did last year. Becerra had $2.1 million in the bank after raising $2.5 million and spending $449,000 in the first six months of the year. Porter reported raising $2.5 million and spending $449,000 since launching her campaign in March. She said she has $2.1 million in the bank. Unlike the other candidates, Porter's campaign revealed her fundraising because her filing on the state disclosure website didn't show any dollar figures. Spokesman Nathan Click said her number of small-dollar donors crashed the state's system, and that they had been working with state officials to get the documents displayed on the secretary of state's website all day Friday. He said most of Porter's 34,000 donors contributed less than $200 each. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco reported raising $1.6 million and spending $609,000 this year, leaving him with $1 million in the bank. A few candidates reported mediocre fundraising numbers, but have personal wealth they can draw on. Kounalakis raised just over $100,000 and spent nearly three times as much during the first half of this year. She has more than $4.6 million on hand and millions more in her lieutenant governor campaign account, although some of that money can't be transferred because of campaign finance rules. Businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck, a Los Angeles Democrat, raised about $160,000 and spent $1.5 million — including more than $1 million on consultants. He had about $729,000 on hand at the end of the period. He also said he made a $10-million contribution Friday that he said 'turbocharged' his campaign. 'One of my many advantages is that I'm not a politician and I am not compromised,' Cloobeck said. Former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate, raised about $1.5 million, of which $200,000 was a personal loan. Hilton spent about $1 million and has a little less than $800,000 in the bank. At the lowest end of the fundraising were former state controller Betty Yee, who raised almost $238,000 and spent $255,000, with $637,000 on hand; and state schools superintendent Tony Thurmond, who raised about $70,000, spent about $180,000 and had almost $560,000 on hand. Both Yee and Thurmond told The Times last month that fundraising had slowed while Democratic donors waited on Harris to make a decision.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Hamas releases chilling video of ‘living skeleton' hostage Evyatar David : ‘Few days left to live'
The family of Hamas-held hostage Evyatar David – a 'living skeleton' – believe he has just 'a few days left to live' – as negotiations for the freeing of all remaining Israeli captives continue to stall In a new propaganda video released by the terror group, David, 24, is seen in a tunnel with a ceiling roughly as high as he is tall, crossing off dates on a calendar and digging what he says he fears is his own grave. 'I haven't eaten for a few days in a row,' David says in the footage. The video shows David digging inside a tunnel. Hamas / Hostages and Missing Families Forum David's family believe he just has a few days left to live. Hamas / Hostages and Missing Families Forum In the middle of the video, the person behind the camera hands him a can of beans. 'This can is for two days. This whole can is for two days so that I don't die,' David says. 'This is the grave I think I'm going to be buried in,' he goes on. 'Time is running out. You are the only ones who can end this,' David said in the propaganda video aimed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. before being interspliced with clips of starving Palestinian children. 'We are forced to witness our beloved son and brother, Evyatar David, deliberately and cynically starved in Hamas's tunnels in Gaza – a living skeleton, buried alive,' the David family said in a statement sent to the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters. 'The deliberate starvation of our son as part of a propaganda campaign is one of the most horrifying acts the world has seen.' This is the second hostage video released by the terror group this week. On Thursday, chilling footage showed Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski ghostly and frail as he cried during the six-minute video. Both were kidnapped during a music festival during the October 7 terror attack and are among the remaining 20 hostages believed to still be alive. 'They are on the absolute brink of death,' brother Ilay David said Saturday, speaking in English before a crowd of thousands at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, as thousands of protesters gathered for their weekly demonstrations to call for the release of the hostages. David called on President Trump to bring about the hostages' release 'by any means necessary.' 'To remain silent now is to be complicit in their slow agonizing death,' he said. US special envoy Steve Witkoff, meanwhile, told Israeli hostages' families in a meeting in Tel Aviv Saturday, that he had no news of progress in talks with Hamas, according to Hebrew media. 'I hear your frustration. But the situation is complicated. There are many reasons [for this] that I cannot detail,' Witkoff said, also emphasizing to the families that President Trump's mission is to bring everyone home. 'We now need to bring all of them home. We are very close to ending the war,' he said, according to the statement. 'We have a plan to end the war and bring everyone home.' 'No piecemeal deals,' Witkoff said. 'That doesn't work. And we've tried everything.' a comprehensive Gaza ceasefire-hostage agreement and would no longer seek 'piecemeal deals,'and is opposed to expanding the fighting in Gaza. The effort was complicated, he said, but he believed it would ultimately succeed. The terror group later vowed not to disarm 'as long as the occupation exists' and until there is a fully sovereign Palestinian state. Israel could announce a plan to annex parts of the Gaza Strip to pressure Hamas to accept a cease-fire deal, according to a cabinet minister.
