Senate panel approves teacher pay raise bill despite debate

By GARRETT BERGQUIST
WISH-TV | wishtv.com

Despite disagreement over how much, a Senate committee unanimously approved a bill to teacher pay raise.

The measure, which passed the committee Jan. 22, would raise the minimum salary for teachers in Indiana to $45,000 per year, the same amount Gov. Mike Braun proposed in his budget. Current law requires teachers to be paid at least $40,000 per year.

Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said he supports the $5,000 raise but it would still leave teachers at less than 150 percent of the federal poverty line for a family of four. Qaddoura proposed raising teacher pay to $65,000 per year and tried to amend the bill Wednesday afternoon to do so.

Qaddoura’s proposal failed on a party-line vote. Bill author Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger, said she doesn’t believe the state budget could support a larger raise.

“The data shows that we can move to $45,000, and eventually I would love to see us at $65,000 but we have to remember that we have a tight budget and school corporations also have tight budgets,” she said.

Rogers later told News 8 her bill likely will stick with the $45,000 figure rather than attempting to find a level between $45,000 and $65,000. She said the bill would still mean an immediate pay raise for roughly 6,000 teachers who make between $40,000 and $45,000 per year.

The teacher pay issue has played a key role in battles over education funding at the Statehouse for years.

According to the National Education Association, the average teacher in Indiana starts at $42,735 per year, with overall teacher pay averaging $57,015. Those numbers place Indiana 28th and 36th in the nation, respectively.

Qaddoura, who also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the State Budget Committee, said there’s enough money in the budget to support a higher teacher salary if lawmakers scale back appropriations elsewhere, such as school vouchers and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

In addition to the pay raise, Rogers’ bill would provide up to 20 days of paid parental leave for full-time teachers and 10 days of leave for part-time teachers. It slightly increases the share of state tuition support schools must put toward teacher compensation, from 62 percent to 65 percent. Rogers said all of the provisions in her bill would help public school corporations hire and retain teachers.

Because the bill involves a budget item, it has to go to the Senate Appropriations Committee for additional review before it heads to the full Senate for further consideration.

This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/education/indiana-senate-teacher-pay-raise-approval.