Sen. Deery Shares Update

One of my priorities this session has been to make it easier for school corporations to provide meaningful salary increases to their top teachers and those working in high-need subject areas. The bill I drafted to accomplish this is Senate Bill 249. It passed the House Committee on Education Wednesday and now heads to the full House of Representatives for further consideration.

I would like to tell you more about the genesis of this bill and why it’s needed.

In 2019, Indiana’s governor appointed 13 individuals to lead the Next Level Teacher Compensation Commission. This group – composed of educators, business leaders and other education advocates – was tasked with recommending ways to achieve more competitive teacher pay in our state.

The commission’s final report included several recommendations for both local school districts and state lawmakers.

One key recommendation was that schools “award higher salaries to teachers with high-need students and in teacher shortage subject areas.”

The report explained:

“Some schools and subject areas experience more challenges in finding or retaining qualified teachers than others…When schools are struggling to compete to hire talented teachers for high-need roles, superintendents should increase the salaries for these positions to ensure their pay is competitive. This can help improve student educational equity in addition to empowering schools to more easily fill educator vacancies. School leaders should also consider paying higher salaries to teachers that generate high-value credentials for their students.”

Over the summer, I spent a great deal of time thinking about why school corporations rarely take advantage of their ability to offer supplemental pay to high-value teachers. One clear reason is that most funding is tied up in the collective bargaining process, which typically aims to pay all teachers the same. My bill empowers schools to set aside funds to pay high-need and high-value teachers more before engaging in collective bargaining. For the first time, it also requires that a portion of all teacher raises be based on the academic needs of students.

I find it rather shocking that Indiana law has never required school leaders to consider student academic needs when making teacher pay decisions. I’m excited that this important reform is moving forward, and I believe it will be a significant win for our teachers, our students and the future of our state.

Legislative Update

Several bills I am sponsoring moved through the legislative process. Here is a quick update.

• House Enrolled Act 1102 would allow school corporations to enter into a contract with a religiously affiliated nonprofit preschool program. The act unanimously passed the Senate Tuesday and now heads to the governor’s desk for further consideration.
• House Enrolled Act 1016 would allow for the appointment of a fire chief, or a fire chief’s designee, to a county school safety commission. The act unanimously passed the Senate Thursday. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk for further consideration.

House Bill 1498 would require the State Board of Education to create a new system for annually determining the performance of schools. Under the bill, each school would receive a grade A-F. The bill unanimously passed the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development Wednesday and now moves to the full Senate for further consideration.