Holcomb Agrees With GOP Legislative Leaders: No Teacher Pay Raises In 2020 Session

Hoosier teachers looking to the General Assembly to boost educator salaries in the 2020 session shouldn’t hold out hope.

Gov. Eric Holcomb delivered the same message Wednesday legislative leaders have been giving for weeks: wait until 2021.

Holcomb, speaking at an annual legislative conference, delivered a target for the state when it comes to teacher compensation.

“I want us to be in the top three in our neighborhood, in the Midwest,” Holcomb says.

But that’s not happening any time soon. 2020 is a short, non-budget session of the General Assembly and Republicans don’t plan to re-open the current budget to increase educator pay.

Still, Holcomb says his two-year teacher compensation commission, created earlier this year, is in the midst of its work. And he says that commission will deliver recommendations next year lawmakers can use in the 2021 budget-writing session.

Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.