Indiana gubernatorial candidate Braun cites teacher pay, K-12 curricula in education platform

by Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle
September 17, 2024

School choice, increased teacher pay, career-focused curricula and parental rights are key in Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun’s education plan, released Tuesday.

Braun’s policy agenda emphasizes seven specific points — mostly in line with existing Indiana GOP positions and initiatives.

School safety and building out the state’s teacher pipeline are also high on Braun’s list.

Like with other platform topics, the campaign said it partnered with Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity & Enterprise (HOPE), a Terre Haute-based nonprofit, to develop the education proposals.

“As a father and former school board member, I know parents are the primary stakeholders in their kids’ education,” Braun said in a statement. “My future-focused education plan puts Hoosier kids and parents first, raises teacher pay and incentive, ensures that our kids are safe, and puts Indiana schools on the path to become the best in the nation.”

His opponent, Democrat Jennifer McCormick, released her education priorities last month. Among her top issues are school accountability and “academic freedom.” Like Braun, McCormick also listed teacher pay and school curriculum changes — especially those that emphasize post-high school career preparedness — in her gubernatorial platform.

Braun’s ‘Freedom and Opportunity’ agenda

“Universal school choice” is chief among Braun’s platform points. That includes expanding and reforming Indiana’s school choice programs — which enable parents to receive state-funded vouchers to enroll their students in private schools — and “doubling” the Education Scholarship Account (ESA) Program for families with special needs.

In 2022, state lawmakers expanded the Choice Scholarship program to be nearly universal and open to almost all Hoosier families. That led the private school voucher program to grow by 30% in the 2023-2024 school year — the largest increase in the number of students in 10 years.

Braun’s plan, per the HOPE white paper, would reform the Choice Scholarship Program “to allow every Hoosier family, regardless of income, race, ZIP code, or other factors, to choose the school that best fits their children’s educational needs.”

“School choice programs put parents in the driver’s seat, allowing them to choose schools that prioritize their children’s needs,” the white paper continued. “Providing universal school choice will ensure every Hoosier family has the same freedom to choose their best-fit education.”

He’s also seeking to double the size of the ESA program, which maxed out for the first time this school year. In years where the program has leftover funding, Braun proposed that children in foster care and active-duty military families could apply for grants.

McCormick emphasizes curriculum, accountability and teachers in Indiana education plan

Braun’s agenda further calls for raises to Hoosier teachers’ base salaries, and “guaranteed” professional benefits like new parent leave, as well as improved health insurance options.

The HOPE white paper does not indicate a specific teacher pay minimum, nor does it detail how much the proposal would cost, overall.

Rather, Braun’s plan would “guarantee teacher access to professional benefits, including by ensuring that every teacher is eligible for new parent leave and supporting individual teachers by providing a state-funded liability insurance plan,” according to the white paper.

Teachers’ would additionally be allowed to choose between their local health plan and the state employee health plan. If the state employee health plan is less expensive, teachers could “capture the savings in their paycheck or their defined contribution retirement account,” the HOPE analysis explained.

Recent data shows the average teacher salary in Indiana was $58,531 during the 2022-23 academic year. The lowest teacher salary reported that year was $38,000. The highest was about $108,000.

Also included in Braun’s teacher plan is a focus on recruitment and retention of “the next generation of high-quality teachers.” Braun said the state “must .. contend with teacher shortages in the immediate term” by adopting “entrepreneurial solutions,” like “cutting red tape and leveraging data to prioritize the recruitment of high-need teachers.”

HOPE’s white paper pointed to expanding flexible certification licensing requirements, and working directly with specific Hoosier school districts that are struggling most with teacher shortages.

McCormick, on the other hand, gave fewer specifics but said she’ll fight for a minimum base salary of $60,000 for Hoosier teachers, and adjustments for veteran teachers’ salaries “to reflect their non-educator peers.”

School safety, curricula and parents

In terms of school safety, Braun said he further wants to establish an Indiana Office of School Safety, which HOPE said would “streamline and enhance existing authorities” at the Indiana Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security and Indiana State Police. The office would be led by “an individual with experience in emergency response and the K-12 environment,” according to the white paper.

Braun’s platform also mentioned increased funding for security grants, and implementing cyber safety training for students. The white paper said new coursework could educate kids on information about online safety, financial scams and phishing attempts, secure passwords, and the responsible use of online platforms — including generative artificial intelligence and social media.

More broadly, Braun’s also looking to make improvements to the state’s K-12 academic standards. Doing so would involve using “evidence-based materials” for reading and math, focusing dollars on “the classroom and student achievement,” maintaining “accountability with clear metrics,” and enforcing recently-passed legislation that limits cell phone use in schools, Braun’s campaign said.

The goal, according to HOPE’s white paper, is to build on the state’s ongoing efforts to improve third grade literacy proficiency and “universal fifth grade numeracy and proficiency with fractions.”

As for classroom curricula, the white paper said Braun’s education plan would see “institutional safeguards” developed against “divisive, non-curricular materials like Critical Race Theory and gender identity from being taught in our public schools.” If elected, he would also direct IDOE to study the “long-term learning loss and mental health impact of school lockdowns and mask mandates for children that were enrolled in Indiana schools during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the white paper noted.

Like McCormick, Braun’s plan also aims to better prepare students for post-high school employment.

The HOPE white paper said Braun would incorporate Indiana’s new diploma rule — still being finalized by state education officials — into the school funding formula by “rewarding schools” for graduating students with honors readiness seals in each of the newly proposed pathways, and providing “enhanced incentives” for graduating students with honors plus seals.

He’d additionally continue to direct state funds into the Career Scholarship Account program, which provides eligible high school students with $5,000 scholarships to pay for apprenticeships, career-related coursework or certification.

Attention to parental rights rounds out Braun’s platform.

“Parents are the best advocate for their child’s wellbeing, and are the decisionmakers in their children’s lives, education, and upbringing,” the HOPE white paper said. “The rights of Hoosier parents to participate in their children’s education, safeguard their wellbeing, and protect them from divisive ideologies should never be in doubt.”

The white paper emphasized that parents should be able to “access information about their children’s education, including the curriculum and assigned reading materials for their children’s classes, performance on statewide tests, progress towards earning a diploma and honors readiness seals, and other information as determined by the school.”

Schools should also be required to “respect and uphold the rights of parents as the decisionmakers in their children’s lives, education, and upbringing.” That includes “directly notifying parents about any physical or mental health concerns that arise at school, such as requests to use a name or pronouns that are inconsistent with biological sex,” per the white paper.

In 2023, lawmakers passed HEA 1608, which includes a mandate for Indiana schools to notify parents when a student asks for name or pronoun changes.

The HOPE analysis said the state “should monitor implementation of this legislation and identify opportunities to further bolster the rights of parents.”

Braun’s education policy would double down, too, on another recent law that specifically blocks transgender girls from playing on K-12 girl’s school sports teams.

The white paper said state and local leadership “should continue to ensure that biological males will not compete against our girls on the court, in the pool, or invade the privacy of their locker rooms.”

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb originally vetoed the bill, saying there was no current problem in Indiana and noting the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) already has a policy in place to ensure fair competition. Legislators then returned during the 2022 legislative session to override the veto.