By Garrett Bergquist for WISH-TV.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration
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% to 65%. 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.
Garrett Bergquist wrote this article for WISH-TV.
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Kentucky is inching closer to its goal of having 60% of residents equipped with a college degree or credential by 2030.
The latest data from Lumina Foundation show slightly more half of people living in the Commonwealth have attained some level of education after high school.
Part of the increase is driven by actions to keep tuition down, and offer financial literacy resources to shrink the amount of money students are borrowing - explained Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education President Aaron Thompson.
"Just five years ago, we were at 55% of all students going to college getting a student loan," said Thompson. "Now we're at 40%. But we also reduced the amount of loans by 34% for all Kentuckians."
According to the report, in 2023, 10% of Kentuckians held an associate degree, and 18% held a bachelor's degree.
Only one-in-four U.S. adults say it's extremely or very important to have a four-year college degree in order to get a well-paid job in today's economy - and 22% say college is worth it, even if they have to take out loans, according to a Pew survey released last year.
But Thompson said educational attainment is critical for jumpstarting career advancement or finding a higher-paying job - especially among Black, Hispanic, and Native students.
"Proud to say we just got recognized as having the best completion rate success - I mean, from where we were at in the country," said Thompson, "partially because we were bringing those that were at the lowest up."
Thompson added that campuses could do a better job of helping households who are eligible for federal money though the FAFSA program apply for it.
"We left about $58 million on the federal table last year from FAFSA, when I was president of a campus one year," said Thompson, "as an example."
Nationwide, nearly 55% of people have a postsecondary degree or credential, and around 47% hold a bachelor's degree.
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
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As Ohio's private school voucher program nears $1 billion in funding, the Trump administration is pushing to expand school choice nationwide by redirecting federal money toward similar programs.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce reports more than 3,000 students in Dayton City Schools alone use one of the state programs meant to provide access to private, faith-based or public charter schools.
Scott DiMauro, president of the Ohio Education Association, argued vouchers weaken public education by taking public dollars away from schools serving all students.
"Private schools can limit their admission to only certain types of students but public schools serve all students," DiMauro pointed out. "Every student deserves fully funded public schools that give them a sense of belonging and prepare them with the life skills they need to follow their dreams and reach their full potential."
A report by the Ohio Education Policy Institute showed a decline in low-income students using vouchers in Cleveland, dropping from 35% to 7%. Statewide, the percentage of EdChoice recipients who previously attended private school had increased to nearly 55% by 2023. The shift showed Ohio's voucher program increasingly benefits wealthier families and current private school students.
Dan Heintz, an educator, school board member and member of the Vouchers Hurt Ohio Lawsuits Steering Committee, said using public tax dollars to fund private institutions without sufficient oversight is inspiring school boards to join the lawsuit.
"Ohio is a state where families earning $60,000 a year are subsidizing the private school tuition of families earning $300,000 a year," Heintz emphasized.
Heintz points to recent changes in eligibility requirements, which no longer mandate students previously attended a public school, a shift he said deepens educational inequities, widening the opportunity gaps for students who need the most support.
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California school districts are working to reassure parents who may be scared to bring their kids to school - since the Trump administration made it clear that immigration authorities will no longer be discouraged from conducting raids in sensitive places such as schools, churches, and health-care facilities.
Data show that one in ten children in California has an undocumented parent.
Laura Fisher - the assistant superintendent of student support services with Desert Sands Unified School District, about 2 1/2 hours north of the border - said while the district does have to comply with a judicial subpoena, student safety comes first.
"We'd be asking for the officers' credentials, contact information, the details of the request," said Fisher, "and ask to see a copy of any reason for them being on the school grounds, and any documentation that authorizes their school access - before we would allow anything."
DSUSD recently sent home a letter to all parents reassuring them that the district has protocols in place and will protect the confidentiality of student data if ICE shows up.
Fisher said schools will work to minimize any disruption on campus, and provide mental-health counseling upon request.
So far, she said, the district has not seen a significant drop in attendance since the inauguration.
Luis Valentino recently retired as superintendent at Coachella Valley Unified School District.
He said the Trump administration's new policy will hurt teacher retention, and place undue pressure on staff, students, and families.
"It is creating an environment of fear that will make it very difficult for school systems to recover from," said Valentino. "The amount of stress that is being placed on the students and on communities, it could be irreparable. It's going to be as bad if not worse than COVID was."
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