It's time for legislators to address teacher salaries
01/20/2015

 

For years educators have heard talk about paying teachers more. Unfortunately, the data does not match the talk. Adjusting for inflation, 34 states saw real declines in average teacher salaries between 2003 and 2012. Only North Carolina had a larger decrease than Indiana.

 

Over the past few decades it was common practice for teachers to work during the summer to augment their salaries. Now we are at a point where more and more teachers must seek additional employment during the school year. Of course, some teachers have simply left the profession altogether, but for many others, part-time employment has become their recourse.

 

If it were just a matter of available money, that would be one thing. But it is more systemic than the amount of money. Public school educators expect that they will not receive a salary increase year-to-year.

 

• Here are some current laws that impact this phenomenon:
  • forbid a school employer from giving a salary increase to a teacher who has been evaluated as needing some level of improvement.
  • allow bonuses to a few based significantly on student standardized test scores while neglecting others who undeniably played a role in that same student’s learning.
  • dictate that through negotiations between employers and employees, experience and additional degrees become recognized as factors in determining salary levels, together their factor cannot count for more than 33 percent. 

 

So, Indiana’s default position is that an additional year of experience in the workplace and/or attaining additional degrees or credentials is of small consideration.

 

What does this say about the value of educators’ experience? What does this mean for student learning? There will be several opportunities during the course of this legislative session to speak with elected representatives about salary determination issues. The bills dealing with who gets to do what to whom and when are plentiful. The only way any of this will change is by speaking up. As some these bills get hearings scheduled, we will alert you quickly and provide you with suggested talking points. But your own story is always most impactful. Things always move quickly, even in long sessions. Please stay tuned to this blog.