Teachers and school corporation employees appreciate Vigo County residents for passing the property Tax Referendum. The VCSC beginning Jan. 1st. will raise the starting wage of NEW teachers with a bachelors degree from $35,000 to $38,000.

Teachers hired after 2005 will get a 5% pay increase. Teachers hired after 1996 will get a 4% increase and those hired before 1996 will only get a 3% increase.

The average teacher salary since 2002 has only increased $6,900 according to a study done by the Rockefeller Institute.

Indiana Gov. Holcomb has told local school districts to use the 2% increase in State Funding to provide teachers a pay increase. Vigo County School Corporation is using a property tax referendum to fund a pay bump.

Rob Haworth, Vigo County School Corp. superintendent, said that “how we honor the educational profession has changed and it’s changed dramatically in the last 15 years.”

He was referring to how teachers are compensated. Teachers used to be able to enter the profession knowing that that if they stayed in that career, they would be able to “own a home, pay on a couple of cars and put my children through college,” he said.

But under the current system, “That is limited now or maybe even nonexistent,” he said. “How we get back to that promise of being able to make a living out of teaching, that’s a very difficult and complicated question … it’s my hope our legislature works to solve that problem.”

Haworth hopes to work with legislators to help find solutions.

Indiana’s average starting teacher salary, as well as average teacher pay overall, has lagged behind the rest of the nation.

The Vigo County School Corp. has been in a strong enough financial position it has been able to provide greater-than-average pay raises compared to other Indiana school districts. This year, the base pay raise is 4.75 percent, while last year, and the year prior, it was 4.5 percent.

Some VCSC teachers also received flat-dollar increases to their base pay to help close the large gap between the highest and lowest paid teachers.

Fayette Elementary School for example. In 2018 the school had an average teacher salary of only $65,471. The raise for the average teacher at Fayette Elementary starting Jan. 1st will be approx. $2,618. Teachers in Indiana have to work well over 180 days a year now, and some work almost 8 hrs a day in the school.

Many teachers are forced to take jobs as athletic coaches, tutors, or even work over the summer break to supplement their income. A Vigo County Teacher with 30 years of teaching experience in some instances may only be making $78-$80,000 a year.