I have covered the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board for 13 years, and this is the first time the district has chosen to have a required public hearing outside a regular board meeting.  State law requires a public hearing before formal bargaining begins between a local teachers union and a school corporation.

With that formal bargaining about to begin, the HSE Schools chose to have a public hearing not part of a school board session Tuesday evening.  The hearing was not live streamed on video as in regular board meetings, but administrators said a video recording would be posted by the school district October 2nd.

There were nine speakers at this public hearing, all expressing strong support for the teachers’ union, the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association (HSEA).  Many argued they moved to the Fishers area to be a part of HSE Schools, a district with a solid reputation.  Most argued that reputation could wane if teachers are not compensated properly.

Teachers said if there is no pay raise this year, a more than 8% increase in health insurance premiums will equate to a pay cut for the teaching staff.

There were comments on the district’s decision to move away from interest-based bargaining to a traditional, or positional, bargaining model (For more on that use this link).  They were critical of going to a more confrontational method of negotiations.

Representatives of the school district and HSEA will now enter into formal talks, with the goal of reaching agreement on a new contract.  State law provides a deadline of November 15 to reach an agreement.  If no agreement if reported to the state by then, the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board  will begin a mediation process.