Latest news with #ShelliYoder
Axios
11-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
What the "big, beautiful bill" will mean for Indiana
President Trump's massive tax and spending bill could have a dire impact on food and health benefits for low-income Hoosiers. Why it matters: It's a historic cut to the social safety net, which Republicans claim will weed out waste, fraud and abuse. But others warn the move could leave more people hungry and uninsured. The big picture: The "big, beautiful bill," signed July 4, includes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly known as food stamps) and health benefits for the poorest Americans. State of play: Indiana may need hundreds of millions of dollars to keep SNAP benefits intact in the next fiscal year for the 600,000 Hoosiers who rely on it. State Democrats estimate the changes to SNAP will cost Indiana at least an extra $190 million, says Sen. Shelli Yoder on behalf of the Senate Democratic Caucus. "Passage of the budget reconciliation is undisputedly the most damaging federal policy targeting hungry Hoosiers that modern America has ever seen," said Emily Bryant, executive director of Feeding Indiana's Hungry. Context: In addition to funding cuts, Trump's plan adjusts work requirements for SNAP. To keep their benefits, parents of children age 14 or older would have to meet new requirements. The bill also bumps the work requirement age up to 64. Currently, SNAP's work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents apply to those age 18 to 54. Threat level: The bill slashes over $1 trillion from Medicaid, putting coverage for 650,000 Hoosiers on the state's Medicaid expansion plan at risk. There are also concerns for nearly a dozen rural hospitals at risk of closure, including facilities in Rensselaer, Portland, Sullivan, Washington, Bremen, Winchester, North Vernon, Brazil, Salem, Decatur and Corydon, according to state Democrats. "People will die," Indiana Democratic Party chair Karen Tallian said in a statement. "Hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers are now at risk because they will lose access to food and health care."
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Editorial: Bill would siphon money from public schools
While Indiana Senate Bill 1, which would reduce property taxes, has gotten the lion's share of attention, other pieces of legislation would also have a profound effect on the state's public schools. Senate Bill 518 is one of the most concerning. Essentially, it would take a portion of funding away from public schools and reallocate it to charter schools. Specifically, the legislation would redirect some local property tax dollars in any public school district where at least 100 children living in the district instead attend a local brick-and-mortar charter school. Currently, charter schools are supported by state funding and do not receive any property tax distributions. This bill represents the statewide expansion of a 2023 law requiring school districts in Marion, Lake, St. Joseph and Vanderburgh counties — all of which have relatively high percentages of students attending charter schools — to share a portion of property taxes used for operations with local charters. Currently in Indiana's 88 other counties, the state sends an extra $1,400 per student to charter schools to make up for the absence of a property tax revenue stream. Under Bill 518, state grant amounts to a charter school would decrease toward zero as the property tax draw of the charter increases toward $1,400 per student. By shifting the funding burden to local property taxpayers, the state would save roughly $19 million across three years. Thirty-six public school districts, including Anderson Community Schools, across the state would be impacted. Initially, the bill would have shifted more than $150 million from public to charter schools over three years. After it ran into opposition in the state Senate from Democrats and some in the Republican majority, the proposal was revised to whittle that figure all the way down to $18.6 million, and it passed the chamber by a narrow 28-21 vote. 'The clear losers here are the students and the parents who have chosen to send their students to traditional public schools,' Senate Minority Leader Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said in an Indiana Capital Chronicle article. 'We hear people talk about school choice, but it robs tax dollars from the parents of 90% of our future students who choose public schools. Where is the respect for their choice? This bill takes away that local choice. It overrides the rule of voters, the will of voters.' Senate Bill 518 now rests with the House Committee on Ways and Means. It should never reach the House floor. While charter schools offer attractive education alternatives to some families, more Hoosier school children would be harmed by this bill. Consider this overwhelming statistic: About 1 million attend the state's public K-12 schools; about 50,000 attend charter schools. The Legislature, in a rush to save money and promote school choice, is jeopardizing the fiscal health of traditional public schools.
