By JOE MELILLO
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Indiana lawmakers want to pay teachers more, which is something the governor has said he wants to focus on this session. Now there’s more than money on the table for teachers.
Three other bills are looking to help teachers in new ways. Representative Robert Behning (R-Indianapolis), the chair of the Education Committee, says the goal of the three House bills is to elevate the profession of teaching.
House Bill 1003 focuses on putting more money into teachers’ pockets by forcing school corporations to spend more education dollars for the classroom and for teachers instead of administrative costs.
House Bill 1008 would create career ladders, helping teachers stay teachers as opposed to moving to the school administrators in order to make more money.
House Bill 1009 will improve the teachers’ prep programs, creating a one-year residency program.
According to Behning, the majority of teachers leave the profession in the first five years because they say they weren’t prepared.
“Other states have pushed for increasing teachers’ pay but when you look at all three of these, I think you are uplifting the profession as a whole and not just focusing on one thing or the other,” said Behning. “I think everybody is excited about trying to uplift the profession of education because they are House bills 1003-9 … they are House Republican agenda bills so I think they will very likely … there is no question they will make it out of the House. I think they will have success in the whole General Assembly.”
Behning says he is working with a few teacher groups to help come up with these bills, including the Indiana State Teachers Association, Teach Plus and Stand For Children. All three came together to make sure kids benefit and teachers benefit. The bills were heard by the Education Committee Wednesday for the first time. They go back to the Education Committee before the second reading.