Muncie Star Press: Muncie Schools to spend $2.4 million on pay raises for teachers

Don’t forget: “Nothing in [Holcomb’s] budget directly addresses teacher pay but the administration continues to encourage local districts to pass the tuition support dollars onto teachers.”

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Democratic Party, the organization that advocates for the future of Indiana and its families, today celebrated how President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan gave teachers a raise in Muncie. This pay increase will begin at the start of the 2022-23 school year, and the investment will effectively “make Muncie into one of the top-paying school districts in the state”. Indiana Democrats like André Carson and Frank Mrvan voted “YES” to provide the state about $5.8 billion via the Rescue Plan. This investment nearly doubled the state budget for 2021-22 year – securing a pay raise for teachers that was originally left out. 

Teachers would not have received their raise without the help of the American Rescue Plan, and it’s Indiana Democrats who got it done. 

In contrast, the Indiana Republican Party said “NO” to educators…again. On top of Governor Eric Holcomb falling short on his campaign promises, politicians like U.S. Senator Todd Young also voted “NO” to help teachers get some extra cash. In fact, Indiana GOP Chairman Kyle Hupfer called this investment “socialism” – claiming this opposition was a “great campaign to run on”. Democrats will highlight how the Indiana GOP has no plan for Indiana’s future – just a D+ rated education system. 

Here’s a look at how the American Rescue Plan continues to deliver for the Hoosier State:

Muncie Star Press: Muncie Schools to spend $2.4 million on pay raises for teachers

“The Muncie Community School Board on Tuesday voted to spend $2.4 million to give teachers what school officials said is the largest pay raise in the city school district’s history.

The pay increases, beginning with the 2022-23 school year, will raise the starting teacher salary to $48,000, a $6,000 increase over the 2021-22 starting salary of $42,000.

Salaries for experienced teachers will go up even more:

• 1-4 years of teaching experience: a $6,800 raise, which would apply to 122 current teachers.
• 5-10 years of teaching experience: a $7,200 raise, which would apply to 19 current teachers.
• 5-10 years of teaching experience with 5+ years at MCS: a $7,700 raise, which would apply to 47 current teachers.
• 11-19 years of teaching experience: a $7,700 raise, which would apply to 16 current teachers.
• 11-19 years of teaching experience with 5+ years at MCS: a $8,200 raise, which would apply to 42 current teachers.
• 20+ years of teaching experience: a $6,800 raise, which would apply to nine current teachers.
• 20+ years of teaching experience with 5+ years at MCS: a $7,300 raise, which would apply to 78 current teachers.

In addition, MCS will automatically bump up any teacher with 20+ years of experience to a $60,000 annual salary if the raise does not push them over that threshold, a addendum that will affect 13 people, according to the proposal.

School board member Dave Heeter, a member of the compensation committee, said these increased teacher salaries should be sustainable thanks to school funding from the Indiana General Assembly, and well as Muncie having “stemmed the tide” of declining enrollment, with the district this past fall recording its first K-12 enrollment increase since 2006-07.” […]

“…According to an announcement from MCS, the new salary levels will make Muncie into one of the top-paying school districts in the state, particularly for beginning teachers, whose salaries at MCS have gone from $34,650 in 2017-18 to $48,000 starting next school year.”

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