No Penalty for Schools Not Reporting Teacher Injuries

An effort to penalize school districts who fail to report teacher injuries failed to get off the ground this session. The Indiana State Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers union, asked lawmakers to look at financial penalties for school districts that don't comply with the law.

"We're disappointed that lawmakers didn't act this session to strengthen the teacher injury reporting law, but we're grateful that harmful language was removed from an early deregulation bill," said ISTA President Keith Gambill. "This data is too important to ignore. ISTA will continue advocating to not only protect this reporting requirement, but to strengthen it and ensure it's used to make schools safer for both educators and students."

WRTV Investigates has reported on the growing problem of teacher injuries. We found all kinds of injuries — teachers hit, punched, kicked, hair pulled, headbutted and some suffering from concussions.

The law requires schools to track teacher injuries and report the data to the Indiana Department of Education. "The pushback against the reporting requirement has been disappointing," said Rep. Ed Clere. "I had hoped there would be an opportunity to strengthen it. Instead, those of us who support the requirement have been fighting just to keep the law intact."

Indiana school districts reported 3,032 incidents of school employees physically injured on the job by a student during the 2023-2024 school year.

"Schools not listed in the spreadsheet did not complete the data submission," said Courtney Crown, a spokesperson for IDOE. "The next data collection will take place in July 2025 for incidents occurring during the 2024-2025 school year."

Representative Ed Clere says school corporations are "thumbing their nose at the requirement without fear of consequence." "Still, the data that has been reported underscores the need for the requirement," said Rep. Clere. "From the beginning, it has been about informing policymakers, and the need for informed policy discussions and action is obvious based on what has been reported. Instead of trying to bury our head in the sand, we should welcome data that can help us make school a safer place for everyone, including school employees. I will continue to defend the law while also looking for opportunities to strengthen it."

"We are proposing a financial penalty for (not reporting to the state), but we are certainly open to discussing with lawmakers what that would look like," said Jennifer Smith-Margraf, ISTA Vice President said in December. "Our goal is to make sure that data is reported so that we have good data with which to make those decisions."

A Marion County judge found a former IPS student incompetent to stand trial for the alleged battery of a special education teacher.

Prosecutors charged Aziz Mahamadou in September 2024 with battery resulting in bodily injury after he allegedly attacked a special education teacher at George Washington High School.