Parents fear teacher exodus as HSE educators reject contract
FISHERS — The Hamilton Southeastern School District, one of Indiana’s most renowned districts, faces a teacher contract standoff that has parents worried about their children’s education.
More than half of the district’s teachers are members of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association. This week, 86% of that group voted to refuse a new bargaining agreement that offered no raises. According to the School District, the new contracts would keep HSE’s average teacher salary amongst the highest in the county.
In a statement provided to WRTV, HSE Superintendent Patrick Mapes said in part, “We are disappointed that the teachers’ association has chosen not to ratify the tentative agreement that the administration team reached with the bargaining team. At HSE Schools, we remain committed to finding a solution that is both fair to our educators and responsible to our taxpayers.”
Mapes went on to say that budget cuts made by the state government forced the district to make hard decisions.
Mapes’ full statement can be found at the end of the article.
“Teachers want to be made whole. We want to ensure that teachers are held harmless, that they’re not taking home less money this year than they did last year,” said Tyler Zerbe, Hamilton Southeastern Education Association president.
Zerbe pointed to neighboring districts that are providing increases by using cash reserves.
“The reason why Noblesville, Carmel, Westfield, I believe, are able to give teachers increases this year is because those school districts are going into their cash reserves in order to do so. And our school district, at least as of right now, is unwilling to,” Zerbe said.
Parents like Stephanie Hunt, who has four children in the district, fear that teachers leaving for other districts could hurt their children’s education.
“I absolutely believe and know that we are going to lose educators. If we don’t as a community step up and tell our administration and our school board that our teachers matter more than politics,” Hunt said.
Hunt believes the district’s reputation depends on keeping quality teachers.
“It is a well-known fact that your public school system supports your economy, and if our schools start to fail, then our economy, our city, all of the things that we enjoy about Fishers are going to falter,” Hunt said.
Read more from WRTV here
