Gov. Mitch Daniels’ administration is moving forward with plans to close a state home and school for troubled or needy youth, but no final decision has been made, state officials said Wednesday.
But those who want to keep the home open, including some lawmakers and the Indiana Department of the American Legion, fear the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home near Knightstown east of Indianapolis will be closed as planned at the end of the school year later this month.
They said that would fly in the face of legislative intent displayed in the regular session that ended on April 29. Separate budget bills passed by the Democrat-led House and Republican-ruled Senate — and a final budget bill that did not pass by the regular session deadline — all included about $10 million to keep the school open for at least another year.
“To me that is the will of the people,” said Bryan Harris, a member of an advisory board to the school who attended there from 1975 to 1979 and is now assistant vice president of Fifth Third Bank’s central Indiana affiliate. “It is absolute intent and he (Daniels) … flat out wants to close it.”
The final budget bill voted on during the session’s last day passed the Senate but was defeated in the House, which means Daniels must call lawmakers back into special session before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said preparations for closing the school this month are still under way. They include evaluating the needs of students so they can be moved to appropriate community-based settings, as well as offering work elsewhere in state government to the school’s 175 employees.
The school has about 115 students, with 18 scheduled to graduate high school there on May 23.
Because lawmakers did not pass a new state budget, Jankowski and the Indiana State Department of Health — which oversees the school — said the matter is still being evaluated and as of Wednesday, no employees have received notices they will be fired.
The health department wants to close the home and school, saying among other things that it costs too much. The state spends about $10 million a year on the facility, and the 53-building campus needs repairs that the administration says could cost between $65 million and $200 million.
But supporters say the facility gives at-risk youths a loving, safe environment where they can flourish. Advocates say the home prevents some kids from falling through the cracks and provides structure and guidance they cannot get elsewhere.
Jankowski said a final decision would be made quickly.
The final budget bill would have created a task force to look into possible alternative uses of the school and campus after June 30, 2010.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said he thought that he and other budget negotiators had a “gentlemen’s agreement” to keep the school open for at least another year. But he said the budget bill would have given Daniels authority to withhold appropriations and make spending cuts he deemed necessary, which means he could have closed the school even if the budget bill had passed and become law.
Daniels has said he would have vetoed the budget bill had it passed anyway, primarily because he said it spent too much.
But Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton, said he believed money for the school to remain open likely was another reason Daniels did not like the budget bill.
“It’s absolute that there is legislative will there, and to compound it, there are another 100 kids that wanted to come to the school, so the population would have been 200,” Reske said. “We always claimed that we would get up to 500 or 600 and it would have the efficiencies there needed to be. So it’s like the governor is just ignoring all those factors.”
Republican Rep. Tom Saunders of Lewisville, who said he voted against the final budget bill because it spent too much but still wants the home to remain open, has requested a meeting with Daniels on Thursday to discuss the matter.
Private donors founded the home in 1865 to care for and educate orphaned and destitute children of Civil War Union Army veterans. The state took control two years later, and in the 1890s the school began accepting the poor children of all veterans. Eventually, it opened its doors to other at-risk children.
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