Wednesday is the deadline for the Indiana General Assembly to adjourn, and – as usual – passage of a budget will likely not occur until the waning hours of the session.

Lawmakers must also act to address the state’s deficit in the unemployment compensation fund that already has required the state to borrow more than $725 million from the federal government. The fix will undoubtedly require a mix of higher taxes for employers and reduced benefits for workers, but lawmakers are deeply divided over how much each side will shoulder.

Failure to adopt a budget and an unemployment plan by the end of the day Wednesday will result in a special session.

Indiana’s public schools are anxiously awaiting the passage of the budget, which includes financing for schools – whether the amount is for just one year or two years is one of the issues still unresolved. Though legislators have said they are preserving education funding, some language would require schools to shift some utilities and other costs from capital to operating budgets, which would require cuts.

Schools must notify teachers by Friday – just two days after the budget is passed – if they plan to cut teaching jobs in the upcoming school year.

Also at issue is legislation to change the board that oversees Grand Wayne Center into a Capital Improvements Board. Among other elements, the bill could result in extending the 1 percent tax on Allen County restaurant and bar sales indefinitely to finance future construction projects.

ISTEP again

The year of testing endlessly continues this week with a third ISTEP+ session. Students were tested in September, again in March and now will complete the multiple-choice portion of the spring test, the results of which determine a school’s compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind law and the state’s accountability law.

The fall and spring testing periods are a one-time event: Indiana is switching the test to spring but had to administer it twice this year to comply with state and federal regulations. The two-session testing period in the spring is intended to provide faster test results. The first session in March included essay and short-answer questions, which must be individually scored.

Last month, teachers in some grade levels reported students were frustrated and unable to complete the questions in the allotted time, raising questions about how well the exams are aligned to classroom standards.

Indiana will spend $82 million on testing and remediation in the 2007-09 biennium.

So when do students have time to actually learn the classroom material between all of the testing periods this year? Good question.

School stimulus

School budget discussions don’t normally occur until late summer, but this is no ordinary year. Members of the Fort Wayne Community Schools board will hear a proposal today on how the district could target federal stimulus dollars to improve reading instruction.

Board President Mark GiaQuinta said the plan is to use the federal dollars to hire instructional coaches and intervention specialists. The district still plans to notify about 50 teachers that their positions will be eliminated because of budget cuts, but the federal money could be used to fill the new jobs. Teachers are being asked to reapply for the new positions, which will target struggling readers and help classroom teachers deliver more effective instruction.

GiaQuinta said the intent is to ultimately reduce the number of students requiring costly special education services. When the federal dollars run out, attrition should eliminate the need to lay off teachers.

School districts across the country are struggling with how to use the cash infusion without making a commitment to costly, ongoing programs. FWCS officials seem to have come up with a plan that could do just that, while simultaneously meeting district goals to improve achievement.

Bridge vote

New Haven City Council members are expected to vote Tuesday on a tentative agreement that would raise the county wheel tax and return 65 percent of the revenue that would go to cities and towns back to county government. In return, the county would continue to take care of the bridges within cities.

The county commissioners voted a year ago this week to abdicate their responsibility to take care of those bridges.

Maintaining Harrison Square

The Fort Wayne City Council is scheduled to consider a plan for the long-term maintenance of Parkview Field and the adjacent parking garage. Last week council members reviewed a request to create maintenance accounts for both the city-owned ballpark and garage, but council members wanted more financial information before taking a vote on the issue.

Councilman John Shoaff, a longtime skeptic of the Harrison Square project, suggested the city administration should renegotiate the agreement with Hardball Capital, owner of the TinCaps. He thinks the city should ask for a larger share of stadium revenue since the condominium and retail part of the project have been delayed.

The current agreement gives Hardball all concession profits for baseball games and 90 percent of profits for events scheduled by the city at the ballpark. The city and Hardball split $300,000 received each year for the stadium naming rights. The city also gets $1 for each ticket sold in excess of 275,000 for any stadium event. And that is the money the city administration wants to use for maintenance.

Elected officials’ nights out

This week is a prime week for constituents to share their views with local elected officials. On Wednesday, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry will hold a Mayor’s Night Out, and Thursday the Allen County commissioners will hold a Commissioners’ Night Out in New Haven.

Henry’s office is asking that residents who want to talk with the mayor call his public information office to schedule a 10-minute meeting, although the mayor will meet with walk-ins as time permits.

The commissioners’ town hall-style meeting is the first of three meetings they have scheduled this spring.