An informal survey of more than 400 Indy Politics readers thought that when it came to the issue of teacher pay, state lawmakers should have included a mandate that new money went to salaries.
Out of 420 responses, 48 percent said should lawmakers have mandated any new money for k-12 education go towards increasing teacher pay. And 45 percent said they did not trust local school districts to take their new revenue and spend it on teacher pay. Lawmakers allocated more than $760 million in new money for schools, including approximately $36 million in teacher appreciation grants which go directly to teachers.
The informal survey also showed the following…
- Only 35 percent thought Indiana was on the right track, while only 30 percent thought the nation was on the right track.
- Thirty-nine percent gave Donald Trump a grade of “B” or better for his Presidency, while 42 percent gave him a grade of “D” or worse.
- Nearly 31 percent gave Governor Eric Holcomb a grade of “B” or better, while 49 percent gave him a grade of “D” or worse.
- Out of the respondents who lived in Indianapolis, only 19 percent thought the job Mayor Joe Hogsett was “good” or better, 31 percent said “fair” and 49 percent thought he was doing a poor job. And 38 percent said that crime was the most important issue facing the city followed by infrastructure at 36 percent.
- Respondents were split on the size of the state surplus ($2 billion); 47 percent thought it was the right amount, 52 percent thought it was too large.
- Sixty-four percent agreed with criticism that Statehouse Republicans spent too much time in caucus deciding issues as opposed to debating them in public.
- And 61 percent thought lawmakers should have taken steps to reform Indiana’s marijuana laws.
You can view the entire survey here.
The survey was made possible, in part, with support from our partners at Indianapolis Public Schools, the Institute for Quality Education and Hirons Crisis Communications.
