Indiana Fiscal Policy Panel Weighs Salary Gaps, Educator Shoage

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New data shows that while Indiana teacher pay has climbed in recent years, Hoosier educators still earn less than peers in neighboring states — a gap union leaders and some legislators say threatens teacher retention and classroom success.

Members of the Interim Study Committee on Fiscal Policy spent much of their final meeting on Friday examining teacher and administrator salaries, student-to-teacher ratios, and other education funding trends.

The statewide median teacher salary was $60,100 as of the 2025 fiscal year, compared with $98,193 for school administrators and $114,825 for corporation administrators, according to a presentation prepared by the Legislative Services Agency.

The mean salary across Indiana was $63,424 for teachers; $99,556 for school administrators; and $116,731 for corporation administrators.

Though average salaries rose about 4% from 2024 to 2025, LSA staff told the committee that when adjusted for inflation, median wages for teachers and administrators have actually declined since 2020.

Suburban districts continue to pay the most, while teachers in rural and small-town schools saw the smallest wage growth, according to the LSA analysis.

Public schools spent roughly $824 million on teacher and administrator benefits in 2024, nearly 80% of it for health insurance.

‘We simply have to raise teacher pay’

Joel Hand, representing both the American Federation of Teachers Indiana and the Indiana School Social Workers Association, told the committee that Indiana “still lags far behind our other Midwestern states.”

He pointed to Wisconsin, for example, where teacher salaries averaged $65,196 for the 2023-24 school year. Ohio, meanwhile, reported average teacher pay at $72,644.

Indiana Fiscal Policy Panel Weighs Salary Gaps, Educator Shortage – The 74 — *Joel Hand (Photo from LinkedIn)*

“If we want to keep those students who are getting degrees in education from leaving to go to Illinois or Ohio or Wisconsin or Michigan, we simply have to raise teacher pay,” Hand said.

He emphasized that Indiana currently ranks 39th in the nation for average teacher salary, citing data from the National Education Association.

“If we want to address teacher retention … we have to raise teacher pay across the board,” Hand told lawmakers.

Gail Zeheralis, with the Indiana State Teachers Association, echoed those concerns. She reminded the committee that the 2019 Governor’s Teacher Compensation Commission had set a goal of a $60,000 average teacher salary.

“A $40,000 salary in 2019 equates to roughly $50,000 today, and a $60,000 average in 2019 equates to about $76,000 in today’s dollars,” she said. “Indiana must continue increasing state funding.”

LSA staff told lawmakers that statewide, student-to-teacher ratios have declined — from 17.6-to-1 in 2019 to 15.6-to-1 in 2025 — while the student-to-administrator ratio dropped from 208-to-1 to 196.9-to-1 over the same period.

The trend, said LSA Assistant Director Austin Spears, mirrors national patterns but is “really driven by an increase in the count of teachers” rather than student enrollment growth.

Still, Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, noted the roughly 1,300 open, unfilled teaching positions currently posted on the Indiana Department of Education’s website.

But other committee members questioned whether funding decisions at the local level steer too few dollars directly to classrooms.

“It’s frustrating up here … that we want to take care of teachers as best we can, because we think that helps us educate kids better,” said Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville. “But dollars going into the school system from this body don’t seem to always make it into the classroom or teachers’ pockets.”

Hand responded that “the erosion of collective bargaining for teachers at the local level” has weakened educators’ ability to advocate for fair pay and working conditions.

Hand additionally called attention to Indiana’s severe shortage of school social workers, which he and others flagged as a “critical” issue in the midst of growing mental health needs across the state’s schools.

The latest data from the state and national school social worker associations showed that Indiana has a student-to-social worker ratio of 1,829 to 1 — massively above the recommended ratio of 250 to 1.

“With the enormous crisis we have in Indiana — and really throughout the country — with mental health in our schools, this is a ratio that I would strongly challenge you as members of the General Assembly to work on,” Hand said.

School social workers are different from school counselors and are primarily focused on students’ lives outside of the classroom and on helping deal with issues outside of school that interfere with academic progress.

Hand said that despite holding master’s degrees and being specially-certified, school social workers are typically not considered to be teachers and many are not on teacher contracts.

He urged legislators to include social workers in the state’s definition of “teacher” for funding purposes, arguing that change will make it easier for school social workers to get hired or be qualified for raises.

Possible legislative solutions

Lawmakers and education advocates pointed to Senate Enrolled Act 146 — approved earlier this year — as a starting point for potential reform, but said additional changes are needed to make teacher pay competitive.

That law raised the minimum teacher salary from $40,000 to $45,000 beginning June 30, and increased the share of state tuition support that school districts must spend on teacher compensation from 62% to 65%.

It also created a statewide Teacher Recruitment Program to help fund training and placement in high-need schools, while requiring annual reports on expanding affordable health plan options for educators.

Several lawmakers on the committee signaled interest in going further.

Rep. Jeff Thompson, R-Lizton, suggested offering weighted funding or incentive pay for shortage areas such as special education and STEM fields — “a market-based approach,” he said, that would help schools recruit for the hardest-to-fill roles.

Baldwin continued to push for greater transparency in local spending to ensure that “dollars reach classrooms and teachers,” rather than being absorbed by administrative growth.

Qaddoura additionally proposed a deeper analysis of district administrative structures to distinguish between small charter schools and large corporations when comparing salary ratios, noting that such distinctions “would give us a clearer picture of where our dollars are actually going.”

Other ideas discussed included restoring stronger collective bargaining rights for teachers and giving districts more flexibility to redirect certain capital project funds — like those used for athletic facilities — toward salaries.

“We just need to somehow loosen up that money for teachers over another astro-turf football field,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle.

No formal recommendations were adopted, but lawmakers said the findings will guide education discussions in the 2026 legislative session.

“We’ve seen the data,” Thompson said. “Now we need to figure out what levers we can pull.”

Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: (email protected).

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Author: Casey Smith
Published on: 2025-10-17 22:30:00
Source: www.the74million.org