Legislative priority announcement
11/15/2021
This is an important week as today marks the beginning of American Education Week and tomorrow is the ceremonial start of the 2022 legislative session. In preparation for the upcoming session, ISTA held a news conference today to share our top legislative priority – restoring teachers’ voice in working conditions.
For many of you, this has been one of your toughest years teaching yet. The shortage of teachers compounded by substitute shortages have most of you working even longer hours without time off and no time for planning.
This environment is unsustainable, and we must do better. And while we’re making progress on teacher pay, professional pay alone isn’t enough.
We know it’s better for both students and teachers when educators have a voice in school conditions. But in Indiana, the legislature has blocked educators from having a voice in these parts of their work since 2011.
This is why ISTA is calling on the legislature to respect Indiana teachers and restore their ability to bargain contracts that include health and safety conditions, class sizes and prep periods for teachers to prepare lessons and grade work.
In addition to the priorities outlined today, ISTA will be releasing its full legislative priorities next month.
We see your commitment to this profession and understand the stress and burnout happening around the state. We are working on solutions to address this in the short and long term. United, we have made progress in the past few years on pay and respect.