SB 382 creates a new chapter in the Indiana Code governing certain county transfers or gifts of unencumbered funds to a school corporation. The bill applies only to counties with no more than one school corporation, and it authorizes the county executive to establish a local board to oversee and manage the use of those funds for projects benefiting the school corporation. The board would include appointees from the county executive, county fiscal body, the largest city or town in the county, the county’s business community, and the school corporation’s governing body president.
The bill sets basic operating rules for the board, including two-year terms for most appointed members, vacancy and removal procedures, oath requirements, quorum and voting rules, and the selection of a president and treasurer. Board members would not receive a salary, but could be reimbursed for necessary expenses, and the county would pay the board’s expenses. The chapter is written to control over conflicting general, special, or local laws, and it is scheduled to take effect July 1, 2025.
Impact
SB 382 would add IC 36-2-6.5 to Indiana law, creating a new local-government framework for counties that make discretionary transfers or gifts of unencumbered funds to a school corporation. It gives the county executive authority to create an oversight board and shifts management of those transferred funds from the school corporation alone to a county-supervised board structure. The bill could affect county budgeting, school corporation funding arrangements, and the governance of locally transferred public funds in the limited class of counties covered by the bill.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have broad support in the Senate. It was reported favorably out of the Senate Committee on Local Government on a 10-0 vote, and the Senate later adopted an amendment and passed third reading with 49 yeas and 0 nays. The available record suggests little overt opposition during the recorded stages of consideration.
Contention
The main policy issue is control and oversight of county-to-school funding. Supporters of the bill appear to favor giving county officials a formal role in supervising how transferred funds are used, while the structure also preserves school corporation participation through the school board president’s seat. The committee amendments narrowed the bill’s scope to counties with only one school corporation and clarified that the county executive, rather than a board generally, may establish the local board, suggesting attention to limiting the bill’s reach and clarifying administrative authority.