INDIANAPOLIS – Schools are working to figure out how much more state funding they’ll receive from Indiana’s new two-year budget and whether their teachers can get a raise.
The new budget provides an additional $1.5 billion for K-12 school tuition support.
Teacher pay is determined by each school district, but several school administrators said Monday they believe raises are possible.
“It’s going to certainly be beneficial to the district if those trends continue to go down in inflation,” Pat McCann, chief financial officer for East Allen County Schools, said of the increased funding.
McCann said it’s “very likely” his district’s teachers will be able to get a raise from the additional funding.
At Southwest Allen County Schools, superintendent Park Ginder said it’s possible as well.
“Even if the numbers are small, we would probably be able to give a raise,” Ginder said. “There’s so many factors that go into that: when we lose students, when we grow students.”
Both Ginder and McCann were among several school leaders who reached out to lawmakers Wednesday night urging them to allocate more funding for schools. That led to changes to the budget in the final hours of session.
Dan Holub, executive director of the Indiana State Teachers Association, called the final budget an “improvement” but said he’s worried the funding isn’t enough for raises in some districts.
“We have a lot of districts, particularly in rural parts of the state and in some of our urban areas as well, where the increases that they’re seeing is just not enough to see significant increases in pay,” Holub said.
Before the legislative session started, Gov. Eric Holcomb (R-Indiana) said it was his goal to get the state’s average teacher salary up to $60,000. Right now, it’s around $57,000.
“We’re going to need some help from the local bargaining units for sure,” Holcomb said Friday when asked whether achieving that goal is still possible. “But this is on an unprecedented level coming on the heels of a previous budget that increased it by over a billion [dollars]. “So yes, this can go a long way in realizing that goal, but it’ll be case by case.”
The new budget, which Holcomb is expected to sign, takes effect July 1.
