INDIANAPOLIS – Senate Republicans killed a controversial education bill Thursday after a sustained push by teachers against the measure allowing some educators to negotiate individually for higher salaries.
But in a twist of legislative procedure and rules, House Republicans could still approve the concept against their colleagues wishes and send it to the governor for his signature.
Both House Bill 1004 and Senate Bill 10 contain similar supplemental pay language that has been opposed by the Indiana State Teachers Association.
House Bill 1004 was up for a final vote in the Senate on Thursday but Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said the 40-member Republican caucus decided not to move it forward.
“It has been misconstrued or misperceived as something that is actually anti-teacher. That’s not the case,” he said. “But I think the perception of it is negative at this point in the teaching profession.”
Long said the concept was meant to help with the state’s teacher shortage, which he called a real problem.
“We need to solve it. We tried to do a market-based approach on that and it was perceived as upsetting the entire apple cart of teacher salaries,” he said.
“The last thing we want is for teachers to think we are trying to be unfair to them in salary structure or create a situation where some can be paid a lot more than others just by the whim of the superintendent.”
Long said the issue needs to be examined over the summer and come back with a more inclusive effort.
But the House might have other ideas.
While House Bill 1004 is dead, House Education Chairman Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, has scheduled Senate Bill 10 for a last-minute hearing before a legislative deadline Monday morning.
Behning was not available for comment on his plans for the bill.
If it passes committee and the full house with not a word changed, it would go directly to the governor. There would be no opportunity for Senate Republicans or the author of the Senate legislation to stop it.