Lawrence Township teachers rally for pay raise

Teachers in the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township of Marion County are calling on the corporation to give them a raise as negotiations for their collective bargaining agreement continues.

Dozens of teachers rallied Tuesday afternoon outside of Lawrence Central High School in the midst of contract negotiations for the 2024-2025 school year.

Amanda Rose, co-president of Lawrence Education Association, would not say how much of an increase teachers are seeking during the negotiation process. “We see discrepancies throughout the district compared us to other districts not just the donut districts around Lawrence Township but the donut districts around Marion County.”

Rose said some teachers work a second or third job to supplement their teaching salaries.

Teachers are also overwhelmed by large class sizes that can reach 30 students, and are also hampered by only getting 45 minutes of prep time. However, that isn’t likely to change due to a state law curbing teachers’ abilities to negotiate their contracts. “We are not allowed to bargain things like class sizes or teacher prep time, and those are the things we really want to bring attention to,” Rose said.

Despite these challenges, Lawrence Education Association members says they remain committed to seeing this school year through to the end. “We put our children first we have no intention of doing a strike which just want our community to know with an election coming up, where are community is. It is not the district’s fault that were in this situation, it’s mostly the state legislature’s fault,” Rose said.

The school district expects an overall funding increase of $3.8 million this year, and some of that money can be used for teacher salaries.

“Our district has provided annual raises to teachers for the past decade, recognizing their ongoing professional growth and the realities of inflation. As we enter these negotiations, we remain committed to continuing this practice of annual raises, subject to the financial realities of our district and the outcome of our good faith bargaining process.”

Statement from the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township

This story was reported by WISH-TV’s Adam Pinsker.