Governor John Bel Edwards ’plan to increase teachers’ pay by $ 400 a year received a welcoming reception from teaching leaders on Friday.
“The governor is so cheap with these hikes that we can’t buy a gas tank every pay period with his so-called hike,” said Keith Courville, executive director of the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, one of three teachers ’organizations in Louisiana. the state.
“We’re still lagging behind,” Courville said. “We need to improve.”
Aunt Mills, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said teachers were disappointed with the proposal.
“A lot of them have already done the math,” Mills said. “For them it’s a slap in the face.”
The LAE, like the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, has been a political ally of Edwards for a long time.
The governor’s executive budget was unveiled on Friday during a meeting of the powerful Joint Legislative Committee on Budgets.
The session begins on April 12th.
Administration Commissioner Jay Dardenne told the committee that while the increase would be smaller than in previous years, it would move the state toward the regional average.
Asked about the criticisms later, Edwards told reporters that he is required to present a balanced budget amid limited dollars and remains committed to shifting average teacher pay to the regional average.
Louisiana teachers received an average of $ 50,923 for the 2018-19 school year, the latest figures available.
The regional average for 16 states was $ 54,930, a gap of $ 4,007. The gap between Louisiana’s average and regional pay widened by 74% between 2019 and 2020. Edwards promised he would reach the regional average when his term ends in 2024.
The gap between Louisiana’s average teacher pay and the southern regional average increased 74 percent over the past year, according to recent years …
The US average is $ 58,540.
Edwards ’$ 40 million compensation plan would also include a $ 200 salary increase for support workers, who are cafeteria workers, school bus drivers and others.
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers, in a note to members Thursday night, called the $ 400 annual hike proposal small.
“Being an educator is harder than ever,” the message says. “This year, the morale of teachers has plummeted. If we don’t work to address it now and show our teachers and school staff how much we value their service, our schools will only continue to lose talented staff and our students will suffer. “
Group leaders urged teachers to pressure the governor, the legislature and the state board of Primary and Secondary Education to support a “significant and sustained” salary increase for teachers and other school employees.
The LFT did not specify how much that should be.
When it comes to paying, Louisiana public school teachers are better than average at first and then fall in the ranking of the rest of …
Courville said he favors raising $ 4,000 a year from teachers.
He also said wage increases can be justified amid a pandemic amid high unemployment at the state and national levels.
“Teachers are front-line, essential workers,” Courville said.
Mills said he also favors an increase in teachers’ pay of $ 4,000, “which is awarded to them for the work they have been doing.”
Louisiana teachers last got a pay raise in 2019: $ 1,000 a year.
Approximately, the office of Governor John Bel Edwards on Thursday proposed a salary increase of about $ 500 for teachers, less than two weeks after the government …
Edwards proposed a $ 500 hike last year, but was left behind after the coronavirus pandemic caused state revenues to fall.
The governor said the funds are available this time due to a federal aid injection for Louisiana’s Medicaid program.
The spending plan corresponds to the year beginning July 1.
According to Edwards’ spending plan, basic state aid for public schools would freeze essentially, as it has for most of the last decade.
Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, said he supports the $ 400 proposal.
“That’s hard not to do,” Cortez told reporters after Friday’s budget presentation. “I’ll be 100% for that.”
The governor’s proposal marks the beginning of a long debate that is likely to last until the end of the legislature in June.
BESE will present its own public school budget to the legislature in the coming weeks.
In addition, the working group of the Minimum Foundation Program, which advises BESE, will meet on Tuesday at noon to discuss the same topic.
The MFP is the complex formula used to allocate state aid to some 700,000 public school students.
The spending proposed by Edwards would also increase the pay of college professors by an average of 4% and would be the first of its kind in 13 years, according to higher education officials.
The average salary is 14th in the region for two-year school teachers 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 .
The governor’s proposal also includes roughly the same funding for the Taylor Opportunity for Students (merit-based) and Go Grants (grants) program.
These amounts are $ 12.2 and $ 11 million respectively.
Capitol News Office staff writers Mark Ballard and Sam Karlin contributed to this report