Local Educators Weigh In on Impact of Education Legislation

Local educators and leaders gathered in Indianapolis to discuss the impact of education legislation on public schools. The event aimed to raise awareness about recent challenges affecting public education.

"The most fundamental investments are our children," said Senator Fady Quaddoura (D), District 30.

The discussion highlighted concerns within the education system, including funding and teacher shortages.

"So clearly funding is number one, of course, per people dollars, but also teachers' salaries, those have been kind of the big, focused work," said John O’Neal, Government Relations with Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA).

Panelists believe Senate Bill 1 will divert funds from public school districts to charter schools.

"If your teacher walks into the classroom and they have 40 students, how can they teach while at the same time you are funding a charter school so they could have 10 or 15 students in the classroom," Qaddoura said.

Dr. James Scheurich, Chancellor Professor at Indiana University, emphasized the need to address systemic racism in education:

"White, middle class, upper middle class, wealthy kids, they're doing fine. They're going to college. They got the resources."

O’Neal also highlighted teacher shortages as a pressing issue:

"If we're going to decrease the teacher shortage in our state we need to improve working conditions for educators, and we need to create environments where people are attracted into teaching," said O’Neal, "The last numbers I saw maybe, you know, a few months ago where there were probably under 2000 vacancies around there."

Audience members were encouraged to ask questions and engage in the discussion. A woman asked leaders what they could do to make a difference:

"I urge our community to continue engaging in a civil way to work with our elected officials on the local level to ensure that we direct the city's budget to the most important resources," Qaddoura said.

"Be active, be active with your school, your children's school. Go to school board meetings, speak up. No change happens without people organizing and speaking up," Scheurich said.