INDIANAPOLIS -- The new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jennifer McCormick, has created a new position to help address the problem of thousands of Indiana teachers leaving the classroom.
Scott Syverson, Chief of Talent, is working with school districts on things like teacher licensing and pay, and also looks at what’s working in other states to keep good teachers.
“That’s his focus, and we’re pretty excited about that,” said McCormick. “We’ve been at this for 53 days, but at least we have someone focusing on the problem.”
Call 6 Investigates found 12,426 educators, or 18 percent of Indiana's teachers and administrators, left their schools over a single school year period.
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McCormick was vocal about the teacher turnover problem during her campaign.
“Are we doing a good job? We are getting better,” said McCormick. “We’re off to a really good start.”
States like North Carolina track the reasons why every single teacher leaves and puts out a report to their legislature.
Indiana does not require schools to track this information, nor does it put out a statewide report on why teachers are leaving.
"I think that's an easy fix because human resources is already doing exit interviews with teachers and a simple question from the state could be why are you exiting?” said McCormick. “Is it because of finances, is it because your wife or husband got a job out of state?"
The legislature would have to require school districts to collect the information.
“Getting that data would be pretty powerful,” said McCormick. “That is something we need to look at.”
McCormick said she is also putting pressure on the state legislature to include $42 million in the budget for teacher pay for performance.
“We’re not talking a lot of money per teacher, but it’s better than seeing zero,” said McCormick.
Currently, the average teacher salary in Indiana is $45,841.
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“Life gets expensive,” said McCormick when explaining why some teachers choose to leave.
McCormick is also keeping a close eye on the budget in the hopes of more teachers getting raises next year.
“We really advocate for more dollars,” said McCormick. “I think we’re always hoping for (better pay.) Pay matters and we’ve said that from the beginning.”
McCormick’s predecessor Glena Ritz put together a Blue Ribbon Commission to look at teacher turnover.
However, McCormick said the commission needs to better represent Indiana before it reconvenes.
