At a recent Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board meeting, Dr. Mike Beresford, the school system’s Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, gave board members some bad news. He had just received resignation letters from two excellent science teachers. They are both headed to nearby school systems offering a better compensation package.
As a community, Fishers is very proud of our local school system, and we have reason to be. Time and time again, our educators have come through and provided students in the HSE School District a high quality educational experience. There are many measurements of how a school system is performing, and HSE is always at or near the top in those listings.
But I am reminded of one of my favorite Will Rogers quotes – “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Teachers in HSE Schools have had to accept very low wage increases in recent years due to the funding (or lack thereof) from the Indiana General Assembly. When it looked like a serious budget crunch would require layoffs, teachers agreed to pay higher health insurance deductibles…in other words, pay much more for out-of-pocket health care expenses. There were other budget adjustments, such as fees charged for student athletic participation and other extra curricular activities. The school board also sold some land to avoid teacher layoffs.
The reduction in the value of their health benefits and the recent years of very low pay hikes are beginning to add up. We continue to have a dedicated group of teachers in the HSE Schools, but how much longer will they tolerate low pay and reductions in benefits?
When you read news accounts of Indiana teacher shortages, HSE may not be hit as hard as some school systems, but we still feel it here. If things don’t change, we could, over time, see a lowering in the quality of our teacher corps.
I know that pay and benefits are not the only reasons teachers are either leaving the profession altogether or college students are choosing not to be education majors. Dave Bangert, a columnist for the Lafayette Journal & Courier, reported on a presentation given last May by Purdue’s College of Education Dean Maryann Santos de Barona.
The dean explained the following to the Purdue Board of Trustees in that May meeting, according to Bangert. “Our profession is at a critical juncture,” she said. “The pervasive negativity about the teaching profession, and the misconception that education is broken, has resulted in increased pressures on practicing teachers.”
According to Santos de Barona, undergraduate enrollment at Purdue is down 33 percent since 2010. Other college campuses are seeing varying degrees of reduction, but all are seeing far fewer students entering the teaching schools.
Just for full disclosure, I have some relatives in the teaching profession, but even before that, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for all teachers. I had some key ones at the high school and university levels that gave me the encouragement needed to become a broadcaster and writer.
I believe here in Fishers, at HSE Schools, we have an administrative team working to support the teaching staff. We have a group of teachers second to none. Maintaining that excellence will be the challenge.
The HSE School Board is moving toward placing a referendum on the May election ballot next year, asking local taxpayers for money funding operations, which largely is utilized to pay teachers. Once that campaign begins, I would urge you to pay attention to the issues.
As Will Rogers said, we can be on the right track, but if we just sit there, we will get run over.
