Advocates fear budget cut impacts at Indiana school for the deaf

INDIANAPOLIS — Each year, the Indiana School for the Deaf educates 350 young hard-of-hearing Hoosiers on its northside Indianapolis campus.

Advocates fear mandated budget cuts from the state will imperil that mission.

”Since we have heard about the budget cuts, ISD has had to lay off 26 staff members which includes teachers, nurses, support staff which are integral to our school and the health and safety of our students,” said Catherine Vest, vice president of the Indiana Association of the Deaf through an interpreter.

The $2 billion budget deficit that snuck up on state lawmakers at the end of the last General Assembly necessitated 5% budget cuts across all state agencies. At ISD, that translated to a $3 million appropriations reduction.

”Since public schools and private schools all received a 2% increase and the Indiana School for the Deaf got a 5% decrease, this is obviously the math is not matching,” said Vest.

ISD provides classes plus dormitory living for deaf students as well as summer camps and other programs.

Vest said a reduction of staff and services at ISD will result in more students remaining at home to be educated at public schools.

”They have a system that’s in place for deaf and hard of hearing students to meet their needs but are not always adequate,” she said. “It costs more taxpayer dollars for deaf and hard-of-hearing students to go into a mainstream public school.

”They have to hire specialized teachers for the deaf, they have to hire support staff who are understanding of interpreting needs and ASL needs, so it can be a more expensive process to send them all to a public school rather than sending them here at a localized centralized place,” Vest added. ”If we shut down the Indiana School for the Deaf, is there funding to hire all the interpreters for these schools, hire support staff at all these schools, hire staff who have specialized training in teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing children?”

When asked if volunteers or advocacy groups could fill the budget void as ISD, Vest suggested asking Gov. Braun.

The governor has said, based on his private business background, that state agencies should be able to absorb 5% cuts without significant reductions in services.

Advocates said the governor and his staff should visit ISD to observe what their cuts would mean.