Great Public Schools for Every Child!

Advocating for You & Your Career

 

As a member of the Association, you immediately have access to advocates and programs to help you reach your professional and financial goals. You are automatically protected with professional liability insurance that offers real coverage to you. But that's just the beginning. Take a look at the multitude of valuable programs and services that Association members brings you!

Promoting Excellence in Education Through:

• Professional advice, training, and other assistance related to current issues of instructional quality, such as teacher evaluation, teacher mentoring, and ISTEP and Core 40 exams.
• For Education Support Professionals (ESPs), professional advice, training, and other assistance related to current issues, such as evaluations and job descriptions, combating privatization, contracting out, pay equity and inclusion of special needs students.
• Employee-determined career development and training opportunities.

Securing Professional Wages & Benefits Through:

• Professional, experienced staff to assist in collective bargaining matters, ranging from research to member organizing to public relations
• Training in the complete range of bargaining skills, including ISTA's popular Collective Bargaining Conference held annually
• Top-notch government relations staff members fighting for you in the Indiana Statehouse, in the U.S. Congress and with your local school board

Protecting Your Career Through:

• Professional, experienced staff advocates to advise and/or represent members in employment-related matters
• Educators Employment Liability Insurance of up to $1 million with an aggregate of $3 million per occurence.
• Highly-effective Legal Services Program

Building Community Support Through:

• Year-round, comprehensive campaigns to communicate our messages using both news media and advertising
• Building coalitions among school employees, parents, and the public on key issues such as school safety

Lobbying for Funding & Other Decisions That Affect Indiana's Public Schools

• Impact on legislative funding -- especially the school funding formula -- and other decisions that affect our schools
• Year-round promotion of increased, sufficient, and sustained funding for P-12 public schools and higher education institutions

Exclusive Member Services That Include:

• Discounts through NEA Member Benefits for a wide range of services, including insurance programs, investment opportunities, credit cards, and publications
• Membership Plus/Educator Access discount programs
• Attorney Referral Program
• Publications -- print and electronic -- geared to your interests and career

ISTA History   The Indiana State Teachers Association is a professional association organized to bring about the continued improvement of educational opportunities for the youth of Indiana and to improve the professional status of educators.  It is affiliated with the national education Association.  The Association is supported by the dues of its members and receives no tax funds from any source.   The support of education prior to the 1850’s had been sporadic and unorganized.  By 1852 the need for legislation to finance public education was so apparent that the Indiana General Assembly passed laws providing for both state and local levies for school purposes.  This important 1852 law was contested in the courts, however, and the Indiana Supreme Court rules that it was unconstitutional because the tax was “discriminatory.”   As a result of this ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court that local taxes could not be used for publication education which threatened a serious setback to education in the state, ISTA was founded on Christmas Day, 1854.  One hundred seventy-eight far-sighted educators from over the state journeyed to Indianapolis for a meeting to contest this threat to free schools.  That they won this basic struggle is now history.   Born as a crusade, the ISTA in 152 years of service, has adhered to its original premise that equal educational opportunity for the fullest individual development is the inherent right of every American and, further, that public education is basic to our democracy and to the perpetuation of our American Way of life.  In all of this history, the ISTA has recognized that the heart of the public school is the teacher and that teachers’ standard of living and cultural environment are basic to high quality performance for the youth of our country.

UniServ Program Description   Since its beginning in 1971, the NEA UniServ Program has truly been a partnership effort of NEA and its state and local affiliates.  The Program’s objectives are to provide professional staff assistance at the local level to association leaders and members to support their efforts to achieve local, state, and national goals.    Operationally, the Program currently employs the services of approximately 1,780 full-time and 230 part-time UniServ staff.  All of these staff are employed by local or state affiliates and work at the affiliate’s direction.  Financial support for their employment comes from combined local and state affiliates and NEA sources.   The UniServ Program is NEA’s single largest program.  NEA Bylaws require that well over 20% of the total NEA dues be dedicated to the UniServ Fund.