School Boards Association wants lawmakers to prioritize school safety, student support this session
The Indiana School Boards Association has a wide-ranging list of priorities for the upcoming legislative session. In addition to fully funding public schools, the ISBA also wants lawmakers to address school safety, student support and teacher retention.
ISBA Executive Director Terry Spradlin said Indiana has done a good job of raising teacher pay in recent years. However, tax caps enacted to help property owners have cut some schools’ operation expenses for things like transportation, utilities and insurance. And those losses change from year to year.
“Policymakers have from time to time said that money’s gone. It’s not coming back. Let’s forget about it,” he said. “But it’s not static. It’s not status quo from year to year. That number changes and fluctuates and sometimes the losses grow, and that’s hard to budget for.”
Schools recieve state tuition based on the number of students enrolled there in the fall. ISBA wants lawmakers to increase that per-student funding annually to match inflation.
Spradlin said that would relieve some of the pressure on school districts and ensure adequate funding for teacher pay and classroom operations.
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School safety is also high on the ISBA’s list of priorities. The state awards millions of dollars to districts for school safety each year through its Secured School Safety Grant. But ISBA wants Indiana to increase that funding from $25 million per year to $35 million.
Spradlin said grant requests from schools totaled $33 million this year, so there is high demand for safety funding.
“Indiana has been a leader in this area, and we want to maintain that leadership status. We need to stay a step ahead of threats and perpetrators that would do harm to children,” he said.
ISBA also supports the creation of a new grant for student support services and teacher retention.
Spradlin said more than a quarter of new teachers in Indiana left the profession within their first five years. The proposed grant would focus on attracting support staff like school counselors, nurses, social workers, therapists and psychologists — and paying them well.
“We need to do a better job of mentoring new teachers with supports, but also freeing them up to focus on teaching and learning. And that means we need more support services to support families and children,” he said.
The 2025 legislative session is set to begin in early January.
Kirsten is our education reporter. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @kirsten_adair.
