Indiana lawmakers will take the first formal steps toward their 2021 session when they gather at the Statehouse on Tuesday for the Legislature's organizational meetings.

The state's largest teachers union is calling on Indiana lawmakers to fully fund schools and provide educators with more bargaining power during the upcoming legislative session.

Initially, a draft report was expected this summer so lawmakers could review it while devising a new two-year state budget in January.

A concern in the coming months is the number of teachers who may retire, whether because of a lack of increasing pay, the pandemic, or both.

The school funding rebuff came as few teachers returned to the Statehouse since the November rally and several legislators said that few teachers had contacted them to talk about their concerns.

Gov. Eric Holcomb proposed a new plan to free up state dollars for teacher pay in his State of the State address Tuesday. That plan could be implemented this year -- but Holcomb wants to wait for 2021.

Indiana Senate Democrats offered their plans Thursday to boost teacher pay in both the short term and the long term.

Indiana collected nearly $300 million more in the last budget than expected. Republicans want to use that money to pay for building projects at state colleges and universities with cash, rather than through bonding.

The sharpest dividing line between Democrats and Republicans in the 2020 session is becoming clearer: how to spend excess state surplus dollars.

Gov. Eric Holcomb is defending his timeline to hold off on taking significant statewide action on teacher pay raises until 2021.