The Indiana Department of Education’s delay in issuing letter grades to school corporations could have an adverse effect on teacher raises at the West Central School Corporation.
The ILearn test was issued for the first time last year and when the test results came back much lower than anticipated, the state decided to wait to issue A-F letter grades based on those results.
West Central School Superintendent Dan Zylstra told the school board members last week that letter grades may not even be issued this calendar year. He said Governor Eric Holcomb wants to hold schools harmless and further action may wait until January when the State Legislature convenes in January.
“The implications of that for us as a district is we can’t finish up 2018-2019 teacher evaluations until we have those letter grades,” explained Zylstra. “It affects the Teacher Appreciation Grant money as well as any type of raise that teachers would negotiate. We can finish up all of that paperwork and get it all set, but we can’t do it until those letter grades come out.”
The Teacher Appreciation Grant money is typically distributed in December and raises are usually given before the Christmas break.
Zylstra will keep the board updated on any developments from the State.
