State Supreme Court Rules Against Local Teachers’ Union

The Indiana Supreme Court Thursday ruled in a case regarding collective bargaining in one Indiana school district.

The case, Jay Classroom Teachers Association v. Jay School Corporation and Indiana Education Employment Relations Board, looked at how much flexibility a school superintendent has when establishing a teacher salary after the start of the year.

When oral arguments began, we reported on the general question being asked of the court: 

Eric Hylton argued for the teacher’s union, the Jay Classroom Teacher Association, and started his oral argument addressing the issue of principal discretion with setting teacher salaries. He argued that if a teacher is hired after the start of the school year, the principal should not have complete discretion in setting that teacher’s salary. He said the union should still negotiate that salary with the school district.

The union is arguing that there should be tight parameters for a new teacher, like years of experience, that determine salary. The school corporation and The Indiana Education Employment Relations Board (IEERB) say a superintendent should be able to set the salary as long as it is within an already set range.

The question at hand was this: when a superintendent in Jay County offered a salary to a teacher hired midway through the year, it fell within the range previously determined by the teacher’s union. But the union thought they should be able to bargain on this specific case and not let the superintendent choose a salary anywhere in that range.

In her opinion, Chief Justice Loretta Rush explained that the court found the superintendent to be well within his/her right in assigning a salary:

“We conclude, therefore, that the superintendent’s authority was neither unilateral nor unfettered and so did not conflict with the Association’s right to collectively bargain to establish salaries under Indiana Code section 20-29-4-1,” Rush wrote in the opinion.

Justice Robert Rucker dissented the opinion, agreeing with the trial court saying all salaries should be collectively bargained.