Hundreds of teachers protest SB 1 at the Statehouse during 'Day of Action' rally

INDIANAPOLIS -- At least 500 Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) members, students and activists protested legislation at the Statehouse during the union's last "Day of Action" rally of the legislative session - specifically calling on lawmakers to pump the brakes on SB 1.




"This seems to be the biggest one I've been to, and I think that demonstrates just how important this legislation is," Nathan Ferguson, a Washington Township teacher, said.




If passed, SB 1 could cut roughly $750 million for public schools over the next three years and force public and charter schools to share property tax revenues in some cases.




"You can't pay the same amount of teachers with less money, so if funding gets affected in that way, we may lose staff," Ferguson said.




"We've been consolidating because budget cuts have continued to hit us, so we're worried about further cuts and how that divides the community," Lacy Hawkins, a teacher at Bedford North Lawrence High School, said.




"There's nothing that teachers will do more than to fight for our students," Ryley Phelps, a teacher at Spencer Elementary School, said.




Phelps said the financial impact of SB 1 could be devastating on both her Title I school and her community.

"When I think of my students, I see them as the future of Indiana, the future of our state," Phelps said. "They are our future, and they should not have services or anything like that cut."




ISTA members also rallied behind teachers and students within the Union School Corporation, which is at risk of closing its doors by 2027 if SB 1 passes.




"We should be working to strengthen school districts and not destroy them," ISTA President Keith Gambill said.




"This is not our first battle at Union School corporation to keep our doors open," Christina Ogden, the president of the Union School Board, said. "We have a student in every county in the State of Indiana that is going to be having to find a different option for their education."




Critics have said the corporation is too small to run efficiently and that it has created an online charter school that essentially acts as a charter mill.




"I view Union School very much the way I view Muncie schools: when the state took over Muncie schools, there was a fiscal and educational catastrophe occurring," economist Michael Hicks, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, said. "So, very little sympathy for what is arguably the worst school in the state, and that is staying alive wholly by an online charter school of some dubious value to taxpayers."



via: https://fox59.com/news/politics/hundreds-of-teachers-protest-sb-1-at-the-statehouse-during-day-of-action-rally/