The Indiana Legislature has made changes to the Teacher Appreciation Grant program that increases the amount of stipends, but significantly reduces how many teachers can qualify.
“The teacher appreciation grant has been overhauled to be something quite different over the next two years,” said Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association.
The changes, originally part of legislative bills, were included in the final, 230-page budget bill.
Before the changes, most certified staff have qualified for Teacher Appreciation Grant – or TAG – stipends.
Teachers are currently ranked as effective, highly effective, improvement necessary or ineffective. Those who have ranked as effective or highly effective can receive the grant.
Under changes, only 20% of teachers in a district are eligible to receive a grant, and with new criteria.
A “recognition” stipend would be $3,500; an “exemplary” stipend, $5,000; and an “exemplary plus” stipend, $7,500.
Also, the state has reduced the annual appropriation for the state grant program by about $2 million per year, from $37.5 million to $35.6 million.
In conversations with legislators, “They are trying to reward the top performers,” said Scott Bowling, executive director of the Indiana Association of School Business Officials.
But many schools “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.
Changes by the General Assembly “now basically makes that impossible,” Bowling said.
How it works
To qualify for a recognition stipend, a teacher must demonstrate high performance in teaching based on student outcomes.
For exemplary, the teacher would have to meet the same student outcomes criteria as for a recognition stipend, but also one of the following:
• Mentors or coaches another teacher to improve student outcomes, or provides instructional leadership to improve student outcomes across multiple classrooms.
• Serves in a high-need or geographic shortage area as determined by the Indiana Department of Education based on educator supply and demand.
For exemplary plus, a teacher would have to demonstrate
• High performance in teaching based on student outcomes, and;
• Mentors or coaches another teacher to improve student outcomes, or provides instructional leadership to improve student outcomes across multiple classrooms; and
• Serves in a high need or geographic shortage area as determined by IDOE.
If the total amount to be distributed statewide exceeds the amount appropriated by the General Assembly, the TAG grants would have to be reduced proportionately to meet what the state has appropriated.
Why the changes?
State Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, authored a bill (HB 1500) to change the TAG program and supports the changes.
The initial intent of the teacher appreciation grant program was to provide the stipends to “a relatively small pool of educators … we can’t all be rock stars,” he said.
Under existing program evaluation metrics, 89% of educators are qualified or highly qualified and receive stipends, Behning said.
The state looked at models across the country and the new Indiana program has similarities to what is done in Texas, he said.
“We decided we wanted to focus and recognize the brightest and best educators that are really having an impact on student learning in our schools,” Behning said.
The argument can be made that many teachers contribute to student success, “but clearly by data we can tell who really has an impact,” he said.
The Indiana Department of Education will establish rubrics for the program, and schools will nominate teachers to receive the TAG stipends.
“It’s not an automatic approval,” Behning said. IDOE has the ability to scrutinize those nominations to ensure they meet the rubrics.
Among those opposing the changes is state Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, a recently retired Vigo County School Corp. teacher.
Under the previous system, highly effective and effective educators received annual bonuses, often the only form of performance-based financial recognition available in the profession, Pfaff said.
Unlike in the private sector, principals can’t simply hand out bonuses; these grants served as a structured, merit-based reward, she said.
“Some critics argued that too many teachers qualified as ‘effective’ or ‘highly effective.’ But isn’t that the goal?” Pfaff said. “We all want excellent teachers in our classrooms, and Indiana’s administrators are already doing a strong job ensuring quality. Ineffective teachers simply don’t last in this profession.”
Aaron Warner, president of the Vigo County Teachers Association, says of the changes, “I’m very against it. It’s horrible.”
To limit the stipend to one in five teachers “pits teacher against teacher,” he said.
Also, teachers who are ineffective or need improvement often tend to leave the profession in the first five years, Warner said.
Veteran teachers who stay in the profession “are masters of their craft,” Warner said. “More than one in five are excellent, amazing teachers.”
In December 2023, the Vigo County School Corp. received $492,419 for the program; highly effective rated teachers received $512.50 and those rated effective received $410, according to the school district.
Last December, VCSC received $484,111 in the TAG grant. Highly effective teachers received $500 stipends, while those rated effective received $400.
A big change
The changes represent “a big paradigm shift for teachers and school administrators and they are going to have to navigate those waters,” Bowling said. “There is some understandable trepidation at doing that.”
Some districts might choose to not seek the funding, but Bowling doesn’t believe that would be widespread.
“It is money for your teachers. Superintendents are going to have to weigh that. … Do I want to reward 20% of my people to keep morale where I think it needs to be?” he said.
Or, might the thinking be, “We’re not going to go for this because I philosophically disagree with the premise behind the change,” Bowling said.
According to the Indiana Department of Education, more detailed information on the updated TAG model and rubric will be made available no later than Sept. 1, with an anticipated TAG submission due date in December and distributions occurring in March.
Schools must distribute the grants to eligible teachers within 60 days of receiving the funding from IDOE.