After two weeks into the new year, Indiana Governor Mike Pence is set to present his vision for the state for the upcoming year during the annual State of the State Address.
Pence will outline his plan that he and other legislators decided on months before.
“He lays forth as to what legislation is needed to be passed and discusses the economic position to the state with respect to taxes,” said Raymond Scheele, co-director of the Bowen Center for Public Affairs and professor of political science at Ball State. “He also talks about new initiatives he wants to put out.”
This year, Pence declared a focus on education and suggested increasing spending on higher education for the new state budget, which is decided on every two years.
According to the governor’s proposed budget, Pence aims to increase spending on student financial aid by $27 million for 2016 and an additional $12.7 million for 2017, and to increase funding for the National Guard Scholarship Program by $500,000. The proposal also suggests increasing higher education operating items by $40 million over the course of the next two years, which helps to fund capital projects at each public university, such as Ball State’s geothermal project.
“It’ll be interesting to see if he has anything to say about higher education,” Scheele said. “The State of Indiana has actually been behind on keeping up with appropriations for higher education, which means tuition has gone up in Indiana.”
The address is set to take place at the Indiana Statehouse beginning at 7 p.m. and will be live-streamed on in.gov.
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