Letter: Teachers’ salaries still not a priority for Indiana

Recently Governor Holcomb laid out his 2023 Legislative Agenda. I think we all can agree that when it comes to the governor’s agenda, sometimes what he asks for, he doesn’t get. What the government wants in the budget is put in this year, everything else is pushed off until next year or cut out of the budget.

As parents, we plan for our children’s futures based on finances, our children’s performance in school, and other factors that may weigh in.

The only part of the agenda I will be addressing is the two parts in education.

It remains to be seen how important the education of our children is to the State of Indiana. My hope is that it’s more important than Community Development and the Next Level Trail Program. Hopefully, enough to invest more tax dollars into teachers’ salaries.

As part of his investment in education, Governor Holcomb intends to request the needed funds to provide a free education for every student. Meaning Indiana parents will no longer be required to pay for curriculum fees/book rentals.

Another part of the Governor’s plan is to automatically enroll students who qualify in the 21st Century Scholarship Program. Right now, parents are required to sign their children up beginning in the 7th grade. As a parent, I like the idea of students being automatically enrolled. I regret not signing my youngest daughter up.

My two daughters were different as night and day. My oldest daughter loved to read, brought her homework home and studied. My youngest daughter didn’t like to read, didn’t bring her homework home and didn’t study. In the 7th grade, my oldest brought the 21st Century Scholarship application home from school. She was excited as she talked about going to college then and throughout high school. She was on target for going to college, so I filled it out. My youngest also brought it home. It was different with her. She had ADD/ADHD, medical issues and, along with not studying, she didn’t seem to have any interest in going to college. So, I didn’t sign her up. In the last semester of her Senior year, she began talking about College and wanting to become a Surgical Tech. I wanted to cry, especially when I learned that she earned a Core 40 Diploma, just like her sister. It was too late to sign her up, there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t afford to send her to college. She said that I didn’t believe that she could do it. She was right because she had had disabilities since birth. But she had outgrown most of them.

I’m proud to say she did go to college, and she is a surgical tech today.

My point is, parents, please don’t limit your children, even a child with a disability. A 7th and 8th grader more than likely doesn’t know what they want to be when they grow up. They have four years of growing and time to make that decision. It doesn’t harm anyone to sign a child up for a Scholarship they may not use. But it will harm more than a child’s future if they decide to go to college, they would have qualified for the Scholarship, and they were not signed up. I’m speaking from experience.

This year’s 8th-grade students who qualify for the scholarship have until June 30th to apply. After June 30th, these students can no longer sign up.

When my children started school, I was told a child’s education is a partnership between the teacher and the parent. In my experience, it’s been a partnership between every teacher they’ve had and myself. What one teacher taught, the next one “built upon it”.

Every teacher along the way has been valuable. My children took different “routes” in school. My oldest went to head start, then K-12, then off to college. My youngest started with a special needs pre-school, Kindergarten, a Readiness class, then 1 – 12. She graduated from college when she was 28 or 29. Mrs. Flack made Molly the scientist of the quarter for each quarter the year she had her. Molly is the surgical tech. Mindy’s first-grade teacher encouraged her students to bring books home to read with their parents. As Mindy began to read to me, I remember being amazed that she knew the words. I thought she memorized the words from the book being read to her. I wanted to know if she really knew the words. I turned the book over and asked her to read it to me. I didn’t lie to her when she asked me why. I shouldn’t have doubted her ability, and I shouldn’t have doubted myself as a mother. She read it perfectly. I began reading to my children when they were babies. Mindy went to College for Professional Writing, and she’s also published. Mindy has always wanted to be a child advocate. She works for the Department of Child Services in California.

I had a homework-first attitude when it came to their education. My children may not have always liked it, but they respect it. If it wasn’t for their teachers, they wouldn’t be the women they are today. I can’t say thank you enough to each of Mindy and Molly’s teachers.

An article in the Indy Times says that Governor Holcomb will be asking the legislature for $50 million to replenish the Next Level Trails coffers. They say money for the Monon South Trail will deplete the last of the $150 million they had in it. All that money spent on entertainment?

I would rather see that $50 million go toward our teachers’ salaries. I can’t help but ask, what’s more important?

Rosemary Kreilein, Jasper