Improving teacher pay will undoubtedly be an issue in the upcoming session of the Indiana Legislature, but how to accomplish it will be up for debate.

No one seems to disagree it must improve, particularly with the state teacher shortage, but legislators may not see eye-to-eye on the best way to get there.

A teacher pay commission determined that $600 million per year will be needed to increase teacher pay in Indiana to a competitive average salary of around $60,000. It offered 37 recommendations that include a mix of cost savings, spending shifts and new revenues.

Among new revenue sources, it suggested local districts pass operating referenda. Another suggestion was a modest increase in the state’s income tax rate.

“While there are many good suggestions, we can’t require local school corporations to shoulder a major part of the new money needed,” said state Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, who will serve on House Ways and Means. “The state must take responsibility for most of the funding to lift us up and ensure quality education. The time to start is in this coming General Assembly, where we will pass a budget for the next two years.”

Republican legislators say that with the revenue hit resulting from the pandemic, the goal is to maintain current funding levels for K-12 schools. But some good news has come, with year-end state revenue forecasts showing Indiana is starting to recover from pandemic slowdowns.

In November, state general fund revenues were up 10% over November 2019.

State Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, who chairs the House Education Committee, believes the state will likely be able to maintain current funding levels “and maybe have increases as well. I’m hopeful that’s where we’ll be by the end of April.” Revenue reports in the spring will be key in determining what additional funds may be available for K-12 education, he said. There are other pressures on the budget, including increased Medicaid expenses.

Meanwhile, both he and State Sen. Jon Ford, R-Terre Haute believe that part of the answer in raising teacher compensation lies with local districts finding more efficiencies, and they note that significant investments were made in K-12 education for the current biennium.

According to Behning, teacher pay has seen some significant improvements around the state in the current biennium.

On Wednesday, Gov. Eric Holcomb released his 2021 Next Level agenda, which states he is “committed to ensuring that K-12 schools receive 100% of their funding for the second half of the school year. He will also work to increase K-12 funding in the next biennial budget.”

According to a news release, Holcomb “will continue to prioritize finding long-term sustainable solutions to improve teacher compensation. He will review and consider recommendations of the Next Level Teacher Compensation Report.”

FULL FUNDING, HOLD HARMLESS

In other matters, Behning believes the Legislature will pass a measure to ensure schools are fully funded for students who learn remotely because of COVID; state law currently calls for those students who receive more than half of their education virtually to be funded at 85%.

“It will only apply to our traditional public schools that are doing virtual education because of COVID,” Behning said. Schools that had a virtual program prior to the pandemic will continue to receive 85% of per pupil funding.

He also believes legislation will be passed to hold schools harmless from consequences for statewide testing.

“I think we have to do another hold harmless in terms of accountability,” Behning said. “COVID has changed everything so much that it’s the logical thing to do.”

He and others believe the testing should take place in the spring so people know where students stand in terms of meeting academic standards and learning loss related to COVID, he said.

“There is discussion of huge learning loss” because of pandemic-related disruptions, Behning said. “We have anecdotal information.” Stanford University studied the problem in 19 states, and Indiana was one of the top states for learning loss, he said. “I think it is imperative we know where we are.”

LEARNING LOSS

Pandemic-related learning loss, or COVID lag, “is one of the most important issues we need to deal with,” Pfaff said.

As a high school math teacher, she personally witnessed it in August when students returned for the 2020-21 school year; students had not been in school since mid-March, when schools shut down and they finished the school year with remote learning.

Students were starting to fall behind on knowledge they should have had coming in, Pfaff said.

With the new school year, students experienced more hybrid and virtual learning, as well as in-person. “We’re going to have to figure out as a state what we’re going to do” to help students make up for what they’ve missed, she said. Some are suggesting summer school for those who have fallen behind.

It can be delivered in different ways, both in person and through e-learning. “It’s going to need money. I think that’s one issue the state really has to deal with. If we’re really going to be serious about remediating these students, corporations are going to need some money to pay for summer school,” she said.

And, improving teacher pay must be a high priority, she said. “I think we’re going to have to deal with teacher retention and teacher pay. COVID affected education in so many different ways. I know a lot of teachers who didn’t come back. They took retirement.”

The teacher shortage will only get worse if these issues are not addressed, Pfaff said. “We’re hurting as far as teachers. That’s going to have to be dealt with in a legislative way.”

She’d also like to see more funding to address students’ social/emotional/mental health needs, which in many cases have been adversely affected by the pandemic. Often, school is their safety net, and being out of school may lead to increased feelings of depression, anxiety and isolation.

ISTA PRIORITIES

Increased school funding, and equitable funding of traditional public schools, is at the top of the list for the Indiana State Teachers Association, said Keith Gambill, ISTA president. At bare minimum, schools need “an increase that at least meets inflation.”

Teachers have been especially challenged this year during the pandemic. “Our educators have had to be flexible during all of this and working in new and very different ways. It has been a difficult year,” Gambill said.

Improved teacher pay is another priority. “We know that 80 percent of those who leave the profession cite low pay as the reason why,” he said. Indiana lags behind neighboring states and “we’ve got to get that changed.”

The pandemic has had an economic impact to the state, and there is hope that some additional federal assistance will help in the interim “until we get through this,”

Gambill said. “But our legislators have to understand we are really entering a crisis point with having enough teachers to do the job at the level it needs to be done.”

Another priority is “increasing educators’ voice in our profession by restoring collective bargaining rights,” including the right to bargain such things as work hours, class size and prep time. Some teachers are losing several prep periods per week because they are covering for others in their building who are absent, often due to quarantine, Gambill said.

TERRE HAUTE STATE SEN. JON FORD TO AGAIN CARRY COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BILL

Ford, Republican state senator from Terre Haute, again plans to carry a bill that would make teacher work hours subject to collective bargaining. The pandemic makes the bill even more important, he said, because with both in-person and e-learning, many teachers say they have been working longer hours and well into the night.

Overall funding for K-12 education will be a major topic of discussion, as it accounts for more half of the state budget, he said.

The state invested considerable new dollars in K-12 education for the current biennium, and the hope is to maintain that level of support, depending on revenues and the pandemic’s impact, he said.

The legislature added 4% in new money each year of the current biennium for K-12 education; it also paid down an unfunded portion of the state’s teacher retirement fund by $150 million — dropping the amount school districts were required to pay; the goal was to use the savings for teacher salaries.

Another legislative priority, he said, will be to fund COVIDrelated e-learning at 100%, rather than 85%, Ford said.

Also, some school leaders would like to see districts funded based on 2019 enrollment numbers, citing COVID-related losses in fall 2020. Behning did not believe such funding was likely to happen.

ISBA PRIORITIES

The Indiana School Board Association is asking that funding for public schools in the next biennium remain at or above fiscal year 2021 levels, with a goal of annual increases to keep pace with inflation, presently about 1.2%.

“Recent funding increases need to be sustained and elevated now and in future years to maintain momentum on improving teacher pay and addressing Indiana’s ranking of 39th in the nation for per pupil spending,” said Terry Spradlin, executive director.

The Legislature increased K-12 education funding by 4% per year in the current biennium, or $763 million in new dollars, including increases of $539 million through the tuition support formula, $74 million in categorical grants, and $150 million to pay down teacher pension obligations.

“School boards did their part by directing a significant portion of the new resources to teacher salaries,” according to an ISBA news release.

According to the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board, 58,616 teachers (94%) received a pay raise last year in the average amount of $2,160. That is a substantial improvement over the 2018-2019 school year when 51,233 teachers (82%) received a pay raise that averaged $1,299, ISBA stated.

The Indiana School Boards Association also plans to ask for the following:

• Count students receiving virtual instruction at 100% ADM funding.
• Coronavirus-related civil liability shield for school officials during public health emergencies.
• ILEARN test waiver and hold harmless for A-F school accountability grades.
• Eliminate the homework gap or digital divide by ensuring all Hoosier students have access to internet connectivity in their homes.
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