GREENFIELD — “Red for Ed! Fund our schools!”
Nearly 50 Greenfield-Central educators and students took to the streets Wednesday afternoon, marching and chanting in support of public education on the same day the Indiana General Assembly was wrapping up work on the state budget. The local advocates, wearing red clothes and holding signs that with pro-public education sentiments such as “Pay teachers what we deserve” and “Keep great teachers in Indiana,” remain upset with how state lawmakers have addressed education funding.
The Indiana General Assembly Wednesday night approved the state’s two-year budget that includes more than $700 million in new money for both public and private K-12 education.
The Republican spending plan increases base school funding by 2.5 percent each of the next two years. But Democrats and some education advocacy groups criticized it as not doing enough to help schools. They asked for a 9 percent increase to boost the state’s average teacher pay to the midpoint of neighboring states. None of the extra funding is earmarked specifically for teacher pay.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryHouse Speaker Brian Bosma has previously said it’s up to school corporations to use state funding on salaries. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb Wednesday night called the education investments “historic.”
An analysis provided by Democrats shows the GOP spending plan increases traditional school funding by about 2 percent a year, while charter schools will see 10 percent more money and private school voucher funding goes up 9 percent the first budget year and about 5.5 percent the second year.
Sen. Mike Crider and Rep. Bob Cherry, both R-Greenfield, voted in favor of the budget.
Lisa Fox, an English teacher at Greenfield-Central High School and the coordinator of Wednesday’s march, said teachers want to spread awareness of public education funding challenges.
“We can’t just sit by,” she said. “Our goal here is to get the community to see our plight. They’re our friends and they’re our neighbors, and we feel that they would support us.”
Fox, who has been teaching for 35 years at G-C, said the legislature shouldn’t be satisfied with increasing public education funding by 2 percent a year. She said the lack of money makes it harder for schools to retain younger teachers. Fox said the issues lie with state lawmakers, not G-C officials. Fox said Greenfield teachers have much support from building principals, administrators and school board members.
“The state of Indiana doesn’t seem to see how important that is,” Fox said about aligning Hoosier teacher pay with that in surrounding Midwest states, “and funneling the money away from vouchers and charter schools — if they did that, public education would be fine.”
Indiana ranks among the bottom half of states for teacher pay, according to multiple studies. The National Education Association estimated the average Indiana teacher made $54,846 in 2018. Among Hancock County’s four school districts, teacher salaries range from the starting pay of $35,000 at Eastern Hancock schools to as high as $80,950 for veteran teachers at Southern Hancock schools.
According to the Rockefeller Institute, Indiana is last in the country for the average change in teacher salary from 2002 to 2017. Salary growth for Hoosier teachers amounted to $6,904 over 15 years. Average teacher pay in Illinois grew by $19,451; and Ohio’s increased by $15,680 in that time frame.
Mindy Weaver-Flask, English teacher at G-CHS, said the state’s funding model, which calls for state money following the student, isn’t sustainable. Schools with dropping enrollment are at a disadvantage, she said, since they lose several thousand dollars for each student they lose from the year prior. A difference in 10 students from one school year to the next can amount to the salary of one teacher. Weaver-Flask said the state budget seems to favor schools in affluent areas as well as charter schools and private schools.
“We are teaching the whole child here,” Weaver-Flask said. “How can we say that a public school student is less than a charter school student? That doesn’t even make sense.”
The down-swing in teacher salaries occurred about a decade ago, following education policy changes under former Gov. Mitch Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett. The state instituted a voucher program in 2011. It allows families to chose to enroll their children at a private school instead of a public school. That shifts state money from public schools to private schools.
For the 2018-19 school year, 36,290 students participated in the voucher program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit education reform organization. The Indiana Department of Education reported a total of 62,687 students attended private schools, while 1.05 million students enrolled in public schools.
Legislators in 2011 also 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.
Laken Rosing has taught high school English at G-C for five years. Before then, Rosing taught in Kentucky, where her former colleagues are facing similar issues; some have even left teaching. Rosing said she’s been blessed with a husband who can support her passion for teaching regardless of income.
“But it shouldn’t be a job requirement to be married,” Rosing said. “Teachers shouldn’t have to have a second income to help them pursue that passion for kids.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
