(INDIANAPOLIS) – The Indiana Supreme Court is deciding what teachers can be required to do besides teach.
The state board which oversees teacher contracts threw out provisions in four districts which spelled out what teachers would be paid for non-classroom duties, like overseeing detention. A 2011 Indiana law limits collective bargaining to pay and fringe benefits. The Indiana Education Employment Relations Board argues the whole point of that law was to block teachers from refusing to do something. Deputy attorney general Aaron Craft says schools are required to have “meaningful discussions” with the union about what’s expected of teachers, but says if they object to something, the remedy is to demand higher pay in the next contract.
Teachers’ union attorney Eric Hylton says some out-of-class responsibilities, like crafting lesson plans or grading papers, are part of a teacher’s core duties. But he argues by the state’s logic, the school board could order a teacher to mow the grass.
One of the disputed provisions, for instance, specified what teachers get paid for overseeing detention on a Friday night with up to 12 students. Hylton says without defining what “supervising detention” means, teachers could be saddled with overseeing 100 kids. He says the union wouldn’t accept that no matter what the pay rate was. He says negotiators have to know what it is they’re bargaining for.
The case involves teacher contracts in the Culver, Decatur County, and West Clark school districts, and the Smith-Green Community Schools in Churubusco.
As always, there’s no way to know when the court will rule.
