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Education officials highlight literacy gains, propose $546 million tuition‑support boost and teacher pay moves
Summary
Dr. Katie Jenner and the education vertical told the Ways and Means Committee that Indiana posted strong reading gains and proposed an increase in K‑12 tuition support and targeted teacher pay steps, while outlining priorities on dual credit, CTE and teacher pipeline programs.
Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana's Secretary of Education, told the House Ways and Means Committee the administration plans to increase K‑12 tuition support, boost teacher compensation and expand programs aimed at literacy, workforce pathways and parental choice.
Jenner said the governor's recommended budget would raise tuition support by a 2% year‑over‑year increase (described in total as a $546,000,000 increase across the biennium in the administration's materials), expand Choice scholarship eligibility, invest $50,000,000 to strengthen the teacher pipeline, and continue to fund literacy initiatives that state staff credit with recent gains in national and state reading measures.
Literacy and interventions
Jenner described Indiana's recent statewide reading gains, telling the committee the state moved to its highest NAEP reading ranking on record (sixth in the nation) and that lower‑performing percentile cohorts saw notable growth. She cited the Indiana Literacy Cadre (489 schools participating at presentation time) and summer learning labs as interventions producing measurable gains; Jenner said cadre schools saw larger increases in I‑Read scores than schools not in the program.
Teacher pay and tuition support
Jenner said the average teacher salary rose for the third consecutive year and exceeded $60,000. The administration proposes increasing the statutory base teacher pay from the current $40,000 level to $45,000 for affected teachers and raising the statutory share of tuition support that must be spent on teacher pay from 62% to 65% in order to direct more funds to classroom compensation. Jenner said the budget includes multi‑year increases (two percent plus two percent in the described plan) to advance compensation.
Dual credit, higher education and CTE
The secretary and higher education officials described Indiana's high level of dual‑credit attainment and recommended maintaining current dual‑credit funding while asking the committee to charge the vertical to develop a longer‑term, formulaic approach to sustain and expand access. Education staff and the Commission for Higher Education flagged an unintended distributional effect when institutions grow differentially in dual credit enrollment and asked for technical fixes so that rapid growth at certain institutions would not reduce per‑credit funding.
Special education and ESAs
Jenner said the administration supports expanding flexible family funding for students with disabilities through Education Scholarship Accounts while acknowledging that special‑education counts and costs have been increasing; she committed to follow‑up on details with the treasurer's office, which administers the ESA program.
Committee concerns and requests
Members asked about a line‑item cut to gifted and talented funds that the secretary said was redirected to tuition support; she offered data breakdowns by district and school. Lawmakers also asked about the planned colocation of the Indiana School for the Deaf and the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired; Jenner said the planned colocation remains on the future schedule and that agency CFOs are coordinating budget and staffing questions to ensure continuity of services.
