Last month’s “Red for Ed” rally was just the starting point when it comes to discussions between educators and legislators. The Plymouth School Board Tuesday heard from a few of the 82 Plymouth teachers who attended last month’s event at the Statehouse.
Plymouth Education Association Co-President Laura Kruyer said one of the major accomplishments was that it gave teachers the opening to start having conversations. “This is only the beginning, and one of the key elements to being successful and getting people to understand a little bit more about the role our community schools play is really to help them understand how the state legislature affects us on a daily basis,” she said.
When it comes to teacher pay, Kruyer said funding has been inconsistent over the last several years. She said that while state’s decision to take some of the pension cost burden away from local school corporations was a step in the right direction, Indiana is still falling behind with paying teachers.
Kruyer added that next month, PEA will host a workshop to train teachers how to answer school funding questions from the public and how to speak with state lawmakers. She said their main goal is to increase the base support for public education. “It’s got to be more than teachers,” Kruyer said. “It’s got to be more than the school board. We’re here every month at these meetings. We understand the great things that our schools are doing. We understand the costs of some of the safety issues or other programs we’re trying to have. The general public doesn’t necessarily know that, and we have to help educate them so that they will support extra funding for our schools. It’s just going to need to happen. It’s necessary.”
Kruyer is also trying to organize a meeting with all of Marshall County’s teachers associations, superintendents, school boards, and state legislators in February. She said teachers have to make sure lawmakers realize that the needs of their constituents in Marshall County are different from those in other parts of the state. She added that Plymouth teachers had tried to schedule a meeting with State Representative Jack Jordan when they were at the Statehouse last month, but he wasn’t available when they were there.
School Board Member Larry Pinkerton noted that getting lawmakers to act has proven to be difficult. “When you talk to them individually, they listen,” Pinkerton said. “But when it comes time to vote and get the job done, they don’t show up. So there may be a time when we have to make a change with some of these legislators.”
Superintendent Andy Hartley expressed his appreciation for the teachers who attended last month’s rally. “I did receive a lot of positive and affirming comments from community members, many of whom I’ve never met before, who just said, ‘Thanks for doing this in support of our teachers.’ So I appreciated that.”
Kruyer told board members that it’s a fight worth having and thanked them for their support.
