HANCOCK COUNTY — When Russell Wiley first stepped into the classroom at Greenfield-Central High School 14 years ago, teachers received pay raises each year based on experience.
Times have shifted, he said. Those raises went away a long time ago. Salaries aren’t competitive with those in other states, and fewer young people want to teach.
Indiana teachers and education advocates have been urging the Indiana General Assembly to improve school funding and teacher pay. The House recently passed a proposed $34.6 billion two-year budget, which would increase K-12 dollars by $611 million — 2.1 percent more in 2020 and 2.2 percent in 2021. The biennial budget — which commits almost half of all spending on education — also includes $60 million for teacher evaluation grants and a one-time payment of $150 million from surplus funds to pay off school pension liabilities, saving schools $70 million annually.
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The budget, however, doesn’t mandate schools to use any of those new dollars for teacher pay.
House Speaker Brian Bosma told a crowd at the Greenfield Chamber of Commerce’s “Eggs and Issues” legislative breakfast earlier this week that it’s up to school corporations to use state funding on salaries. The House recently passed a bill recommending schools use 85 percent of their funding for instruction and the remaining 15 percent for operations. Bosma said he and GOP lawmakers who voted in favor of the legislation encourage schools to spend the 85 percent of the funding on salaries.
Education advocates, including the Indiana State Teacher’s Association, have said the 4.3 percent increase will only keep up with inflation and doesn’t adequately compensate teachers. ISTA is having a “Red for Ed” rally on Saturday afternoon at the Statehouse to demand more funding.
Wiley, the president of the Greenfield-Central Classroom Teachers’ Association, said he also doesn’t think the state’s proposed budget for school funding is enough. He said most Indiana teachers have high student loan expenses, rising health-care costs and haven’t seen substantial raises in years.
“The bottom line is that the state legislature just doesn’t get it, or want to get it, when it comes to teacher pay,” said Wiley, who teaches social studies at Greenfield-Central.
The push for higher salaries isn’t new, Wiley said. From 2000 to 2017, the constant pay for teachers in Indiana — pay adjusted for the cost of living — dropped nearly 16 percent, the worst in the country, according to the National Education Association. The average teacher now makes $50,554.
The down-swing in teacher salaries occurred about a decade ago, Wiley said, following education policy changes under former Gov. Mitch Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett.
Legislators in 2011 took away consistent pay increments and replaced it with a point system. It’s now more difficult for younger teachers to get higher salaries after a few years on the job, Wiley said.
“You just stay where you’re at now,” he said.
The starting pay for Hancock County school teachers varies by almost $10,000. The best starting pay is at Southern Hancock schools, at $44,300. The lowest is at Eastern Hancock, at $35,000. Starting pay at Mt. Vernon schools is $38,582, and Greenfield-Central’s is about $1,000 more, at $39,653
Greenfield-Central teachers are paid well compared to other schools in the region, Wiley said.
“We’re pretty happy here with everything,” Wiley said. “A lot of teachers want to support those smaller-school teachers that are going to struggle since they’re not getting the money they need.”
Some young teachers would rather seek jobs in larger school districts, where the pay is more generous. That’s a disadvantage for small schools, such as Eastern Hancock, which has about 1,200 students. First-year teachers there are paid $9,300 less than those at Southern Hancock.
Mark Vail, president of the Eastern Hancock Educators Association, said school funding has a long way to go to bring teacher pay to a sufficient level. Salaries for Eastern Hancock teachers range from $35,000 to $68,240, according to the corporation’s master teacher contract for 2018-19.
“It’s going to take a lot of funding to get people caught up to where they need to be,” he said, adding that’s especially true for teachers who are just entering the field.
Some younger teachers are fleeing the field after a few years, Wiley said, and not as many college students are studying education. The number of education-related bachelor’s degrees declined by 15 percent across the country between 2005 and 2014, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Wiley said that makes it harder for schools to fill positions when teachers retire.
House lawmakers passed a bill that encourages younger teachers to stay in education through mentoring opportunities with older teachers. They also OK’d legislation that would create a teacher residency grant program to further partnerships between schools and colleges for student teaching.
Kent Gish, president of the New Palestine Classroom Teachers’ Association, said teachers at Southern Hancock are thankful for support from the administration and community. According to one analysis, Southern Hancock had the fourth-highest starting pay rate in the state last school year. And that’s before the district’s minimum salary increased by $1,500 for the 2018-19 school year.
Gish said as teacher responsibilities and expectations increase, compensation should as well. Over the past few years, educators have had to spend time addressing matters as diverse as school safety; e-cigarettes and drug use; student emotional health; new graduation requirements; and the evolution of standardized testing.
“Meanwhile, school funding has not increased proportionally,” he said. “I’m glad the state is recognizing that for teaching to be a career and to attract the best to it, teacher salaries must be better. I hope this is a step in that direction, and Indiana would make it a priority and could afford to do this and even more in the future.”
An earlier version of this story included incorrect information. The salary range for Eastern Hancock teachers is $35,000 to $68,240. We regret the error.
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Here is a look at Hancock County’s teacher pay ranges for the 2018-19 school year. The lowest salary is for a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree; the highest is the maximum salary given to a teacher with a master’s degree.
Eastern Hancock: $35,000 – $68,240
Mt. Vernon: $38,582 – $79,992
Greenfield-Central: $39,653 – $68,859
Southern Hancock: $44,300 – $80,950
Source: master teacher contracts
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