Government John Bel Edwards ‘plan to increase teachers’ pay by $ 400 a year received a resounding reception from education leaders on Friday.
“The governor is so cheap with these increases that we can not buy a tank of gas every pay period with his so-called increase,” said Keith Courville, executive director of the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, one of the three education organizations in the state.
“We’re lagging behind,” Courville said. “We need to get better.”
Tia Mills, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said teachers are impressed with the proposal.
“A lot of them have already done math,” Mills said. “For them, it’s a slap in the face.”
The LAE is, like the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, a longtime political ally of Edwards.
The governor’s executive budget was unveiled Friday at a meeting of the powerful joint legislative committee on the budget.
The session begins on April 12.
Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne told the committee that although the increase would be smaller than in previous years, it would move the state to reach the regional average.
Asked about the criticism later in the day, Edwards told reporters he had to submit a balanced budget amid limited dollars, and that he was still committed to getting the average teacher pay to the local average.
Teachers in Louisiana were paid an average of $ 50,923 for the 2018-19 school year, the latest figures available.
The regional average of 16 countries was $ 54,930, a gap of $ 4,007. The gap between Louisiana and regional average increased by 74% between 2019 and 2020. Edwards has promised to reach the regional average by the end of his 2024 term.
The gap between the average wage for teachers in Louisiana and the Southern regional average has widened by 74% in the past year, according to late …
The US average is $ 58,540.
Edwards’ $ 40 million pay plan will also include a $ 200 boost for support workers, who are cafeteria workers, school bus drivers and others.
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers called the proposed $ 400 annual salary increase small in a comment to members Thursday night.
“Being an educator is harder than ever,” reads the message. “This year the morale of teachers has dropped. If we do not work to address this now and our teachers and school staff show how much we value their service, our schools will continue to lose only talented staff and our students will suffer.”
Leaders of the group called on teachers to put pressure on the governor, the legislature and the state board of elementary and secondary education to support a ‘significant and sustained’ wage increase for teachers and other school staff.
The LFT did not say how much it should be.
In terms of pay, public school teachers in Louisiana are better than average at the beginning and then fall on the rankings for the rest o …
Courville said he raises $ 4,000 a year for teachers.
He also said wage increases could be justified amid a pandemic amid huge unemployment figures across the country and nationally.
“Teachers are frontline, essential workers,” Courville said.
Mills said she also prefers a $ 4,000 raise for teachers, “because they are awarded for the hard work they have done.”
Louisiana teachers last received a salary increase in 2019 – $ 1,000 a year.
In an approximate face, government John Bel Edwards’ office on Thursday proposed a pay raise of about $ 500 for teachers, less than two weeks after the government …
Edwards proposed a $ 500 increase last year, but it was suspended after the coronavirus pandemic sent state revenue down.
The governor said this time funds are available due to an injection of federal aid for the Louisiana Medicaid program.
The spending plan is for the financial year beginning July 1st.
Under Edwards’ spending plan, basic state aid for public schools would be frozen in practice, like most of the past decade.
Sen. Cortez, president, R-Lafayette, said he supported the $ 400 proposal.
“It’s hard not to do that,” Cortez told reporters after Friday’s budget presentation. “I will be 100% for it.”
The governor’s proposal is the start of a long debate that is likely to last until the legislature adjourns in June.
BESE will submit its own public school budget to the Legislature within the next few weeks.
In addition, the Minimum Task Force for the Foundation Foundation program, which BESE advises, will meet Tuesday afternoon to debate the same issue.
The MFP is the complex formula used to award state aid to approximately 700,000 public school students.
Edwards’ proposed spending will also increase the payment for the university faculty by an average of 4% and, according to higher education officials, will be the first of its kind in 13 years.
The average salary is 14th in the region for faculties at two-year schools and 15th for four-year colleges, the Louisiana Board of Regents said.
“Today’s executive budget sends a clear message: education is critical to our success and now is the time to make strategic investments in our people,” Higher Education Commissioner Kim Hunter Reed said in a statement. said.
The governor’s proposal also includes about the same funding for the Taylor Opportunity program for students – based on merit – and Go Grants needs.
These amounts are $ 12.2 million and $ 11 million, respectively.
Mark Ballard and Sam Karlin, staff writers of the Capitol News Bureau, contributed to this report