Indiana lawmakers advance plans to fix school shortfall

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's public schools would receive all the state money they expected under proposals aimed at fixing a shortfall blamed on an unexpected increase in student enrollment.

Indiana House and Senate committees this week each approved bills that would direct up to $25 million this year from the state's tuition reserve account to make the school payments.

The move comes after the state Department of Education warned school districts in November that it faced cutting per-student payments to schools as the state budget's $7 billion for K-12 education this school year won't fully fund all students. Schools reported some 6,000 students more than the about 1 million projected when the General Assembly approved a new two-year state budget last spring.

Republican legislative leaders have said they intended to restore the funding.