Sen. Deery Shares Focus on Education

At nearly 50% of the state’s General Fund budget, K-12 education is one of the state’s top priorities, and it’s one of mine as well.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Education and Career Development, I spend a lot of time working on education legislation. This session I authored or sponsored several bills to help address Indiana’s teacher shortage, enhance school safety commissions and improve math instruction. One of the most important raises the minimum salary of a teacher. Here are a few other examples of bills I worked on:

• Senate Enrolled Act 249 allows school districts to fund supplemental paychecks to teachers that are exceptionally important to the school’s mission such as a teacher who fills a high-need subject area like special education, STEM and English as a second language. 
• House Enrolled Act 1016 allows for the appointment of a fire chief, or a chief’s designee, to a county school safety commission. 
• House Enrolled Act 1634 requires schools to automatically enroll a student who meets certain conditions in a middle school advanced math course. 

The state’s new budget also increases the K-12 tuition support formula by $960 million over the next two years compared to fiscal year 2025.