House bill seeks to reward Hoosier teachers with advanced degrees

As a reward, Fisher also may see a small increase in his pay.

“If you’re an ‘effective’ or ‘highly effective’ teacher, you do get a little bit of a bump if you have a master’s degree,” he said.

Though that’s a commitment made by the Frankton-Lapel Community Schools Board of Trustees, not all school districts recognize the time, energy and money teachers put into professional development by earning advanced degrees.

House Bill 1081 hopes to encourage school districts to provide a supplemental payment in excess of a teacher’s base salary. The law, intended to correct provisions to a law enacted several years ago that for most districts eliminated the ability to develop scales that take into consideration advanced degrees, would apply to compensation plans created after June 30, 2017.

HB 1081 has had a first reading and has been referred to the Education Committee. It must have a third reading by today to remain viable and to be sent to the Senate for consideration.

In private industry, employees often receive tuition assistance or reimbursement from their employers. But that is virtually unheard of in public education where teachers often are required to seek advanced degrees, or at the very least, take classes to earn professional growth points to maintain their licenses.

That’s often done at their own cost through the use of student loans.

Fisher, 38, who came to teaching from a previous career as an engineer through the Transition to Teaching program, said if money were his goal, he wouldn’t have switched to teaching.

“Obviously, you’re not in teaching for the money,” he said.

Fisher said he is earning his master’s without the promise of additional pay for the benefit of his students so they can earn dual high school and college credit, reducing their future tuition costs.

“If I don’t get my master’s so the students can get the dual credit, that’s a disservice to the kids,” he said. It also would be a disservice to himself since the district could opt to replace him with a teacher who is qualified to teach dual-credit math classes, he added.

Still, getting additional pay not only validates his hard work but also helps pay back those student loans, he added.

“I think it makes sense if you worked to educate the students better, you should be compensated in some way,” he said.

State Rep. Tony Cook, R-Cicero, who authored HB 1081, said though some districts like Frankton-Lapel have gotten around some of the restrictions, he wants all districts to be able to build scales that reward teachers for advanced education.

“I believe experience does make you better, and schools locally ought to be able to decide to give an increment,” he said.

However, some critics believe the measure contains vitals flaws.

For instance, Randy Harrison, president of the Anderson Federation of Teachers, said HB 1081 doesn’t really address the fact that many teachers have received advanced degrees since 2011 when the law eliminated advanced degrees from pay scales. It is not retroactive to that date.

“Why wouldn’t you want to pay your educators more if they’ve grown professionally?” he said.

In addition, Harrison said public education is one of the few professions where advanced degrees do not guarantee higher salaries.

“That’s not very fair. It’s another reason that people are leaving the profession,” he said.

The lack of pay for advanced degrees also means teachers have gravitated more toward earning professional growth points to maintain their licensure instead, Harrison said. Earning PGPs costs less than college tuition, and teachers can earn an hour for attending a faculty meeting or completing an online course or workshop.

“Everyone uses the PGP points because no one has the time or the money to go back to college,” he said. “I would argue some of the PGP workshops and sessions may be more effective than college instruction.”

Financial management

A school financial management bill that will allow districts the flexibility to transfer money between an education fund and an operations fund at their discretion has passed a third reading in the Indiana House and has its first reading in the Senate, where it has been assigned to the Appropriations Committee.

As part of the restructuring, three of the four major school property tax levies – capital, transportation and school bus replacement – would be consolidated into one operations levy.

Cook, who also authored House Bill 1009, said more than half of Indiana’s budget is directed to education but that less than 57 percent actually reaches the classroom.

“As a former teacher, principal and superintendent, I understand how beneficial it would be to have the flexibility to transfer undedicated funds from the operations fund into the education fund, which then can go directly into classrooms so that Hoosier students can receive a high-quality education,” he said.

Cook said he is especially pleased the measure was passed by the house with 92-3 bipartisan support.