Somewhere in the 230-page budget bill passed in the spring, Republican legislators kicked a hornet’s nest. This metaphorical nest contains 59,000-some hornets, each representing a public school teacher in Indiana.
In recent years, roughly 47,000 to 53,000 of those teachers received small annual grants, usually in the $500 range based on performance evaluation ratings of “highly effective” or “effective.”
It wasn’t a lot of money, but a little token of appreciation for hard work and commitment to the craft for the good of the youth of Indiana.
Now, here’s where the teachers transform into hornets. The Legislature kicked the nest by stipulating that, beginning with the 2025-26 academic year, no more than 20% of teachers in any school district can receive an appreciation grant.
That means that at least 80% of teachers won’t receive money that they’ve come to expect given positive work performance evaluations.
School districts have to apply for the grant money, and some might choose not to, given that so few on their staff could receive them.
Those that don’t will, no doubt, feel unappreciated, and many with good reason.
It takes a special person to excel at the front of the classroom. Teachers aren’t paid a lot, considering their level of educational attainment and the challenges of the job. So reducing the number of teachers available for these stipends will lead to hard feelings and accusations of favoritism.
The hornet’s nest will be buzzing, too, over the size of the new selective stipends, which will range from $3,500 all the way up to $7,500. This is emblematic, again, of the grant pie being divided into fewer, larger slices. Meanwhile, the pie itself is shrinking: the annual appropriation for the program has been reduced from $37.5 million to $35.6 million, according to a recent report by the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
The lucky 20% (maximum) of teachers who receive these grants might be very happy. But the underpinning philosophy shift of the grant program is counterintuitive to the ideal of public school education, where teamwork is at a premium.
Scott Bowling, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials, said as much in the Indiana Capital Chronicle article.
Many educators “feel that education is a team sport, and that all of our efforts are going into all of the kids. If you were doing a good job in your teaching position, then everybody sort of deserves the same amount,” he said.
Aaron Warner, president of the Vigo County Teachers Association, worries that the new 20% limitation of the grant program “pits teacher against teacher.”
In the ICC article, he called veteran teachers “masters of their craft.” “More than one in five are excellent, amazing teachers,” Warner said. In Anderson Community Schools, many teachers are accustomed to receiving $400 or $500 annually from the grant program, according to Brad Meadows, ACS director of communications.
“If we decide to apply, we have to identify how we are determining who our high performing teachers are ...,” he said.
The Legislature kicked the hornet’s nest. The schools, as usual, are left to feel the sting.
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