INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s largest teacher’s union is calling for better collective bargaining, increased pay for support staff, and more say over curriculum in the upcoming legislative session.
Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) President Keith Gambill said Tuesday that Hoosier educators are also seeking new social and emotional learning support for students.
The General Assembly reconvenes on January 8. Although Republican legislative leaders have said they do not plan to reopen the state budget during the short session, ISTA’s latest agenda includes multiple funding requests that total at least $540 million.
ISTA will advocate for a $500 million increase to basic tuition support for traditional public schools in the 2025 fiscal year — the second year covered by Indiana’s current biennial budget. Gambill said that amounts to a boost of 7.98%.
Under current law, K-12 public schools are projected to see average per-student funding increases of 1.7% next year.
“While we recognize the 2024 legislative session is not a budget year, we are calling on legislators to reopen the budget,” he said. “If we want Indiana to be a leader in the region or country, we’re going to have to do right by our schools.”
He emphasized, too, that the legislature needs to earmark more money in the second year of the biennium to “fully fund” the cost of textbooks and curricular materials.
State lawmakers dedicated $160 million to the new state budget to eliminate textbook and curriculum fees, starting with the 2023-24 academic year. While the new law was championed by state officials, school districts are still on the hook to pay for those materials.
ISTA leader Gambill said more data needs to be collected before ISTA can recommend an exact dollar for curricular fees.
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