It's not enough to call teachers 'heroes'

I’m grateful to have the endorsement of the Indiana State Teachers Association. I’m a product of Indiana’s public schools, and a former high school teacher in the same system I was educated in. I did my student teaching in Southern Indiana’s Greene County, taught Hoosiers at the Bedford Branch of Oakland City College, and now work as an undergraduate academic advisor at Indiana University in Bloomington, where my daily work brings me face-to-face with young Hoosiers fresh out of our public schools. 

When I say I understand the value of Indiana’s teachers and the challenges they face, I mean it.

It’s not enough to call our educators “heroes.” Elected leaders must back up their rhetoric with action, and on that accord, our current congressman has failed miserably. Rep. Hollingsworth, who was educated at exclusive, private, out-of-state institutions, had a chance to help Indiana public schools earlier this summer, but voted against a bill that would have provided $90 billion to the U.S. Department of Education to support our schools during the pandemic.

-ANDY