Vigo County's Teacher to student ratio unchanged

VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - A new study out this month shows Indiana public schools are adding employees faster than students.

Indiana school corporations have added teachers at five times the rate of students.

The study claims schools systems have grown more complex and schools had to add staff to keep up.  

The information is found in the "School Staffing Surge" by the Friedman Foundation.   

But Vigo County School Corporation’s Director of Human Resources Mick Newport said that's not the case in Vigo County.

"The administrators in our schools are the same as they were,” said Newport.    

In fact, Newport said the school corporation employed 25 less teachers since 2010 and it has 97 less total employees. 

Student enrollment decreased during this time as well, resulting in less hires, partly due to new school vouchers.

Newport explained the school corporation has a certain criteria it has to meet in order to add new staff or administrative members. 

The corporation reviews requests to add an employee very carefully to make sure the position is needed.

"We decide whether we can split a staff member between another building or give them what they need. We’ve done all this without letting up what the expectations are in the classrooms,” said Newport.    

Newport feels having less teachers than the Indiana trend is not a bad thing.

"So, we feel like even though we have less staff members and less overall teachers than we did two years ago, we also have less students. But we also feel that they’re still getting the education that they deserve,” said Newport.

According to their website, the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice “is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, solely dedicated to advancing Milton and Rose Friedman’s vision of school choice for all children. First established as the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation in 1996, the foundation continues to promote school choice as the most effective and equitable way to improve the quality of K-12 education in America. The foundation is dedicated to research, education, and outreach on the vital issues and implications related to choice in K-12 education.”