Teacher Pay A Top Issue For State Lawmakers

Lawmakers are gearing up for the upcoming legislative session, and a big topic on their minds is teacher pay. The general assembly will craft the state’s two year budget during the session, and that includes school funding support.

Hundreds of teachers across the country walked out of their schools or decided to run for office this year, mostly to demand more school funding support, and better teacher pay. Indiana didn’t see a ton of the action, but national data shows Indiana teachers saw some of the biggest drops in pay over the past 10 years.

House Speaker Brian Bosma says it’s a core issue heading into the session.

“The most important profession for the future is those that serve in our classrooms,” he says.

Bosma says some lawmakers, including education committee chair Bob Behning, have been working with teacher and other education groups all summer.

Behning says much of those conversations focused on how to elevate the profession of teaching.

“We want to make sure they have the opportunities to aspire and do great thing inside the profession without necessarily going to administration,” he says. “We want to recognize them and pay them appropriately.”

Behning says doing that will mean looking at how to get more money that goes to schools to the teachers who work in them, and changing the way people talk about the field.

He says it’s too soon to know what details a teacher pay bill might include, but a new agreement to promote the profession of teaching will be announced in the coming weeks.