ANDERSON — Local Madison County legislators agree teacher pay in the state has to increase. How that is accomplished remains as the sticking point.
This past week the Next Level Teacher Compensation Commission issued a report indicating the state will have to spend $600 million more annually to increase the average salary for teachers to $60,000.
“I’m thrilled they recognized we have a teacher pay problem,” said state Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, a former teacher. “They didn’t bite the bullet on how to find the necessary funding.”
She was disappointed the commission recommended pursuing the needed revenues at the local level through a local income tax or increase in property taxes.
“That will help the richer school districts,” Austin said. “It will get us right back to where we started.
“Proposing a local referendum is not the best solution,” she said. “It’s passing the buck.”
Austin said lawmakers won’t really know the fiscal condition of the state until the revenue forecast is released in April.
“A teacher pay increase is a priority for me,” she said. “What we need to know is how much of the money that goes unspent in the agency budgets revert back to the general fund.
“Raising teacher salaries should be a priority before we fund new programs or increase funding for existing programs,” Austin said. “Our school should be a priority.”
Rep. Elizabeth Rowray, R-Yorktown, a former member of the Yorktown school board, said it will be difficult to raise money for anything in the state’s two-year budget that is not directly related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The governor said he is making it a priority,” she said of teacher pay increases.
“The voters have spoken on property taxes and it’s not a viable way to raise money for schools,” Rowray continued. “A local income tax causes problems.”
Rowray said a local revenue source could result in what she called “teacher hopping” with teachers taking jobs in school districts that are paying a higher salary.
“We need to have a commitment to teachers working in their home area,” she said. “They become connected to the community.”
Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, said he was disappointed that the commission identified the problem, but didn’t provide a plan to increase teacher pay.
“The increase has to come in increments,” he said. “People are talking about the decline in revenues this year, but Indiana is in better shape than we expected.
“It can’t be done in one budget cycle,” Lanane said of any increase in teacher pay. “It’s important we have a plan that can be implemented.”
Lanane said he was not against the local financing option but that it appeared state officials didn’t want to raise taxes and leave it up to the local school boards.
“We shifted public school funding when the state raised the sales tax,” he said. “Funding for public schools was going to be at the state level and not through local property taxes.”
Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, said he thought the commission presented several good ideas.
“It didn’t set all the burden on the Legislature,” he said. “They recognized the role of the school boards.”
Gaskill said teachers are moving to surrounding states because salaries are low in Indiana.
“It’s the same problem Madison County is facing,” he said. “We’re losing the talented employees to other counties or private business.”
Gaskill said he liked the option of controlling the administrative costs in school districts and making the funds available to increase teacher salaries.
A part of the recommendation was that teachers and school districts be held harmless in terms of accountability for student achievement this year.
“I’m not sure our state testing is really telling us what is taking place,” Gaskill said. “My philosophy is the more education is driven locally the better it is.”
With the change to an appointed state superintendent of education, the governor will drive the policies, Gaskill said.
Lanane said 2020 has been an unusual year because of the pandemic.
“It’s unfair to second-guess decisions made by the school districts,” he said. “They tried to determine the best way to deal with the pandemic.”
Lanane said teachers and school districts should not be held accountable for student performance.
Austin agreed school districts and teachers should be held harmless in a challenging year.
“You can’t force a child to log on,” she said. “This was the worst of all circumstances.”
Austin said she is uncertain if the state testing is providing the results lawmakers wanted.
“We should put on hold all accountability for two years,” she said. “Education has been challenged by this situation and there has been no discussion on how to modify accountability.”
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