Center Grove teachers, parents start retention movement

There’s a growing movement in the Center Grove school community to support and retain teachers.

The movement is known on social media as #CGRetainTeachers and it is inspired by the United Teachers Association of Center Grove’s demands for higher pay and better school funding. The “Support Center Grove Teachers!” Facebook page had 762 members as of Friday.

Teachers first brought the movement to the public when about 150 Center Grove teachers came to protest the new contract proposal during the October school board meeting. The group turned out after a landslide 91-16 vote to reject the proposed 5.65% salary increase for certified teachers. Under the contract, administrators would have received the same raise.

This is the first time the association’s co-president, David Lawson, can remember teachers and administrators being unable to reach an agreement during his 29 years with Center Grove schools. It’s a vote Lawson said he understands and has the data to back up.

During a Center Grove school board candidate forum Tuesday, members of the teachers association distributed packets comparing teacher salaries to similarly-sized school districts and criticizing the prioritization of funding at Center Grove schools.

“It costs approximately $370,000 to give every teacher in the district an additional 1% increase in compensation. This year, the district transferred 13.7% of the education fund to the operations fund, a total in excess of $9 million. If they’d transferred half that amount, the $4.5 million that would have been left in the education fund could have provided an increase in compensation to teachers of over 12%,” the packet says.

The education fund, which is subsidized by state money, is almost entirely used to cover the salaries of teachers, principals, and non-teaching classroom staff members, such as instructional assistants. The operations fund, financed by property taxes, covers administrator salaries and wages for non-classroom staff. The operations fund also covers minor construction and repair projects. While the two funds have different sources, the school board can vote to approve transfers from one fund to another.

The school district’s fund transfers from the education fund to the operations fund are below the state-allowed 15% maximum, and the amount school officials transferred between the funds is necessary to pay off items such as utilities and custodial salaries, Superintendent Rich Arkanoff and Assistant Superintendent Jason Taylor said in an email.

“The state required schools to move expenses like custodial salaries and utilities from the education to the operations fund. For 2023, (the fund transfer) limit equates to around $13 million. However, (Center Grove) needs almost $24 million in our operations fund to pay salaries, [such as custodians, maintenance staff and bus drivers], utilities and to replace school buses,” school officials said.

While the proposed wage increase would raise starting teacher salaries to $46,015, teachers at Clark-Pleasant schools now make at least $47,000. At Greenwood schools, the least-paid full-time teacher makes $48,014.

Teachers association members also take issue with administrative salary increases. Center Grove school officials offered a 5.65% salary increase for both teachers and administrators, the increase translates to $3,167 for the median teacher, while it is a $6,667 raise for the median administrator, Lawson said.

Administrator pay is among the best in the state, while teacher salaries lag. In the eight years since 2012, Center Grove superintendent’s contract salary has been increased by $71,841, from $155,000 to $226,841. Meanwhile, a bachelor’s degree holding teacher who made $45,977 in 2012, would now make around $64,412, assuming they followed the normal payscale track, Lawson said in a Facebook post.

With 50 Center Grove non-retirement teacher resignations during the 2021-22 school year, the teacher retention issue will only worsen if teachers aren’t compensated properly, he said.

“Our position is that our administrators are dedicated, hard-working professionals, but we do not have a shortage of administrators, nor do we see administrators leaving for other districts in the middle of the school year. Center Grove seems to be a destination for administrators. In contrast, classroom professionals will likely seek better pay elsewhere,” Lawson said. “In our own Johnson County, Center Grove has the largest student population, which means more state tuition support, yet we’re consistently in the middle of the pack for teacher pay.”

While there are more students at Center Grove than any other Johnson County school district, the school district receives less money per student from the state. That’s because state funding is also based on factors such as the number of students who receive free and reduced-price lunch, which Center Grove has fewer of than other school districts in the county. The expenses of operating a larger school district, combined with less money received per student, makes it more difficult for school leaders to offer larger salary increases, according to school officials.

Center Grove leaders also formed a teacher retention and recruitment committee this year, including teachers and administrators, to figure out how best to keep teachers in the school district. District leaders also added mental health supports in hopes of alleviating some of the stress teachers face, school officials said.

“We have provided teachers with waiver day time, mental health supports and we try to control the stress that we can control,” they said. “Unfortunately, our teachers are under attack from a number of outside forces we cannot control. Based on funding that places us in the bottom 10% of all 294 public school corporations in Indiana, it is difficult every year to offer a raise. We are proud that we have been able to offer 14% in two years to our teachers.”

Administrators made just one offer to the teachers association during bargaining, Lawson said.

“After our members voted down the board offer, we were asked by district leaders what might continue the conversations around bargaining, and we suggested an increase to their initial and only offer,” he said. “Our inquiries about further conversations were met only with ‘the board is still considering their available options.’ We have not heard anything since. Our efforts turned to appealing to the community.”

School district leaders cannot comment on bargaining efforts in progress, according to school officials.

Nicole Kemp is one Center Grove parent who has been helping organize support for the CG Retain Teachers movement. Kemp threw her support behind the movement because of the amount of work she’s seen teachers put in. She shared online how teachers over the years have gone above and beyond to help her son.

“Funds haven’t always been allocated for the teachers most recently and I think that’s sad because they’re the heartbeat of the school. I love Center Grove … but at some point you have to pay the people educating the students who are going to play sports and all the things we put money into,” Kemp said. “It’s about letting the board know it’s time, because I’m afraid we’re going to lose teachers, and some good ones. Get out and vote, and do it for people supporting our teachers.”