Teachers pack the statehouse urging lawmakers to fully fund public schools

INDIANAPOLIS — Hundreds of teachers took the day off of school to protest four separate bills at the statehouse.

"We are calling on them to fully fund our public schools, where over 90 percent of all children go to school," Keith Gamble, the Indiana State Teacher Association President, said during a speech to a crowd of his peers.

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This call to action came the same day that Senate republicans released House Bill 1001, their budget proposal.

Protesters are concerned because the proposal takes funding away from public schools. Usually, 50 percent of the budget is dedicated to K-12 education.

In the budget released by the Senate, only 48 percent of the budget is dedicated to K-12 funding, a change teachers say could be detrimental to their students.

"It takes a lot more to get kids to achieve and do what you see is best for them,” Bruce Thomas, a teacher at Child's Elementary School in Bloomington, said. “If you have increased class sizes and less resources, less support for administration and less support from aids, it makes the job harder. "

Teachers are also asking lawmakers to not expand school voucher programs.

House Bill 1002 expands voucher eligibility. This means the income threshold to qualify for vouchers would be raised.

In the Senate's version of the budget, that's not the case. However, the Senate’s budget would allow for charter schools to tap into property tax funding.

"They want to siphon money away from our schools to private schools. They want to prevent students from being safe and fully themselves,” Gamble said.

Another point of contention is House Bill 1608, which would require teachers to notify parents if a child wishes to be called by a different name or pronouns.

Teachers say this could create an even larger teachers shortage if signed into law.

"If it becomes a law, I'm definitely not going to go through with it,” Markella Wilson, a teacher at River Forest Middle School in Hobart, said. “It might be the end of teachers. You’re going to see teachers not going through with it. You might see a decline within teachers again in the near future. "

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Teachers hope lawmakers will listen to the message they are trying to send at the Statehouse.

"Put your party aside and think about the kids,” Casondra Pugh, a 7th grade teacher from Hobart, said. “You are representing us. You are a public worker, so think about the kids you are impacting."

However, teachers do support the Senate's plan to request that Governor Eric Holcomb eliminates school material and textbook rental fees charged to families. Those fees are estimated to cost about $120 million per year.

School organizations opposed the House proposal which wouldn’t have allowed those fees to be charged, but did not give a specific funding proposal to schools to cover the cost.

Teachers believe that textbooks should be covered, however they don’t think individual school districts should have to take it out of their budget.

The Senate's version of the budget passed out of committee Thursday. It now heads to the Senate floor. Session for the Indiana General Assembly is set to conclude at the end of this month.