Teachers and supporters fill Statehouse to say school funding “shouldn’t be political”
APRIL 16, 2025
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On Monday morning, a sea of red t-shirts washed over the top three floors of the Indiana Statehouse as hundreds of protesters gathered to voice their concerns about the proposed state budget’s impact on Hoosier schools.
Protesters gather on the top three floors of the Indiana Statehouse during the Indiana State Teacher Association’s Day of Action on Monday. Teachers, school counselors, mothers, fathers and even students marched with homemade signs in hand at the Indiana State Teacher Association’s (ISTA) Day of Action, hoping their message would reach the lawmakers who will debate the state budget—possibly for the next two weeks.
Teachers said their top concerns with the budget include property tax caps, which may limit funding to school districts, loss of funding to special school programs, and potential teacher layoffs, which would increase class sizes.
Education and the state budget
State budgets are used to allocate funding to entities like schools, libraries, public transportation, Medicaid, law enforcement and many others. Most of the money in the budget comes from state taxes.
House Bill 1001, titled “State Budget,” contains Indiana’s entire budget for the next two years. The bill is nearly 175 pages long.
Within those 175 pages, the word “school” is used 498 times and “teacher” 122. In the 2023 budget, 47% of state funding went toward schools.
The educator perspective
Margaret Young, a sixth-grade English language arts and social studies teacher is concerned about district funding in relation to property tax caps.
A study by Ball State University found that property tax caps, which create fixed percentages on how much money a property owner has to give the government based on the gross value of their property, hurt schools because the caps mean there is less money available in each district.
Indiana has had these caps since 2008, but Young is concerned that if they continue or become lower, then teachers will have less money available for their salaries.
At Center Grove Schools, where Young teaches, teachers make $52,113 per year on average. Some may make as low as $38,123.
Tori Miller teaches special education transition programming at Pike High School for 18- to 22-year-old students. She said her role is helping students with special needs gain employment, independent living and community involvement skills so they can participate in society when they leave Pike.
Miller’s programs require a significant amount of funding because they often require off-campus experiences. To travel, she needs funding for transportation, which for her program, comes from the state budget.
The rest of her program’s money comes from fundraising that Miller does herself. These funds go toward off-campus activities and experiences that are crucial for her students to become employed.
Because of state budget cuts, Miller’s district will lose money, putting the learning opportunities of her students on the line.
“We have to be able to go out because things that can be done within the building are typically done before they get to me,” Miller said. “It shouldn’t be political. Making sure our kids have the things that they need shouldn’t be political.”
More students, less money
Ron Emmert is the band director at New Augusta North Public Academy, a school in Pike Township. On Tuesday, the website for Emmert’s school said it would have an “e-learning day” because of 184 planned teacher absences across the district, which were mostly related to ISTA’s Day of Action.
Emmert said his top concern with the budget is teacher layoffs, which would cause class sizes to go up.
As a band director, Emmert said he has one-third of the school in his class because so many students are in band. This means he could be teaching up to 200 students at one time.
Emmert said having so many at once is OK for him, but it would not work for an English or math teacher.
For the 2019-2020 school year, the average number of students in a classroom in Indiana was between 20 and 22 pupils. To Emmert, even this number is too high.
He said if there are fewer teachers in the schools, classrooms might have over 40 students in them at once.
“My kid’s a sophomore,” Emmert said, “and I really don’t want 50 kids in his physics class in high school.”
The funding cuts that would lead to layoffs are in line with Gov. Mike Braun’s agenda to use fewer taxpayer dollars to do what he calls “more.”
“Every Hoosier family and business had to tighten their belts over the last four years. It’s time the government does the same thing,” Braun said during his State of the State address in January. “My vision is a streamlined, accountable, responsible government that keeps more money in your pocket and empowers the private sector to innovate and grow.”
Emmert said this sentiment will not benefit teachers and students in Hoosier schools.
“Do more with less is stupid,” he said, “because we’re already doing as much as we can with almost nothing.”
FOOTNOTE: Anna Cecil is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a new site powered by Franklin College journalism students.
