Indiana teachers will receive a minimum salary of $45,000 starting in July if Gov. Mike Braun signs a measure passed by state lawmakers. That would boost the state’s minimum teacher pay by $5,000 a year. The final measure also strips a provision that would have required schools to provide paid paternal leave.
In addition to raising teacher salaries, SEA 146 says 65 percent of districts’ state funding must be used for teacher compensation. That’s an increase from the 62 percent in current law.
The measure also creates the Indiana Teacher Recruitment Program. It will provide grants to programs that train and recruit teachers in areas with critical teacher shortages. However, the bill does not appropriate funding for the program so the number of grants awarded, as well as their amounts, will be determined by the Indiana Department of Education.
IDOE could use a portion of its new Freedom and Opportunity in Education fund in the state budget to pay for the program. The fund allocates $50 million to the IDOE each year to “improve academic performance and increase freedom and opportunity in education.”
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However, that money can also be used to fund numerous other IDOE priorities like expanding the state’s ILEARN checkpoint pilot program statewide, piloting evidence-based literacy programs, creating an interactive advising tool for Indiana’s new high school diploma, providing literacy grants, supporting science of reading initiatives and expanding computer science programs.
The original bill also required at least 20 days of paid paternity leave for most full-time teachers. That provision was ultimately removed due to the cost.
Sen. Andrea Hunley (D-Indianapolis) urged schools to consider adding parental leave policies anyway if they don’t already have them.
“I would just take this as an opportunity to urge school districts that are not doing that yet to look at their policies and for all of our districts to look at how they can expand that to be more inclusive of a variety of family types,” she said.
Hunley said she’s hopeful lawmakers will reconsider paid parental leave when the state’s budget is not so tight.
Kirsten is our education reporter. Contact her at kadair@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @kirsten_adair.