Melton reacts to governor’s omission of teachers, public input on teacher salary commission

INDIANAPOLIS – After reading an article from Chalkbeat regarding the governor’s teacher salary commission, State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) released the following comments:

“While I understand this commission, by law, does not need to meet under the public’s purview, it does not seem a smart idea to make decisions or even brainstorm a topic as important as how to raise teacher pay behind closed doors. Further, there are no teachers at the table for these meetings, so I am not sure why the governor would appoint people to a commission that don’t have direct experience working in a classroom or living on these low salaries. 

“There is an opportunity here to have a thorough public discussion on how to fix this detrimental problem in our state, and we’re seeing a few folks from outside the teaching profession meeting privately. We can do so much better than that.”