Governor John Bel Edwards ‘plan to increase teachers’ salaries by $ 400 a year was welcomed by teacher leaders on Friday.
“The governor is so cheap with these pay increases that with his so-called pay raise, we can’t buy a tank of gas for every pay period,” said Keith Courville, executive director of the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, one of three teacher organizations in the state.
“We’re still falling behind,” Courville said. “We have to get better.”
Tia Mills, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said teachers were impressed with the proposal.
“Many of them have already done the math,” Mills said. “It’s a slap in the face for them.”
The LAE, like the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, is a longtime political ally of Edwards.
The governor’s executive budget was revealed Friday at a meeting of the powerful Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.
The session starts on April 12.
Administration Commissioner Jay Dardenne told the commission that while the increase would be smaller than in previous years, it would push the state to the regional average.
When asked about the criticism later in the day, Edwards told reporters that he must submit a balanced budget amid limited dollars and that he remains committed to a moving average teacher wage towards the regional average.
Teachers in Louisiana were paid an average of $ 50,923 for the 2018-19 school year, the latest available figures.
The regional average for 16 states was $ 54,930, a difference of $ 4,007. The gap between Louisiana and the regional average wage has widened by 74% between 2019 and 2020. Edwards has vowed to hit the regional average by the time his term ends in 2024.
The difference between the mean pay for teachers in Louisiana and the Southern regional average has increased by 74% in the past year, according to the late …
The US average is $ 58,540.
Edwards’ $ 40 million compensation plan would also include a $ 200 pay rise for support workers, which are cafeteria workers, school bus drivers, and others.
The Louisiana Federation of Teachers called the proposed $ 400 annual pay rise small in a note to members Thursday night.
“Being an educator is more difficult than ever,” says the message. “This year, teacher morale has plummeted. If we don’t work now to address this now and show our teachers and school staff how much we value their service, our schools will continue to lose talented staff and will our students suffer. “
The group leaders urged teachers to push the governor, legislature and state administration for elementary and secondary education for a “significant and sustained” pay increase for teachers and other school personnel.
The LFT has not indicated how much that should be.
When it comes to pay, teachers in Louisiana public schools are better than average at first and then fall in the rankings for the rest of …
Courville said he is in favor of an annual $ 4,000 increase for teachers.
He also said salary increases could be justified in the midst of a pandemic amid high unemployment rates statewide and nationally.
“Teachers are vital frontline workers,” said Courville.
Mills said she is also in favor of a $ 4,000 pay rise, “that they will be rewarded for the hard work they have done.”
Teachers in Louisiana were last given a salary increase of $ 1,000 per year in 2019.
With a rough face, Governor John Bel Edwards’ office proposed a salary increase of about $ 500 for teachers on Thursday, less than two weeks after the reign …
Edwards last year proposed a $ 500 pay rise, but it was shelved after the coronavirus pandemic caused state revenues to plummet.
The governor said money is available this time because of an injection of federal aid for Louisiana’s Medicaid program.
The spending plan is for the financial year that starts on July 1.
Under Edwards’ spending plan, basic support for public schools would essentially be frozen, just like most of the past decade.
Senate Speaker Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, said he supports the $ 400 proposal.
“That’s hard not to,” Cortez told reporters after Friday’s budget presentation. “I will be 100% for it.”
The governor’s proposal marks the beginning of a lengthy debate likely to last until the legislature is suspended in June.
BESE will submit its own public school budget to the legislature in the coming weeks.
In addition, the Minimum Foundation Program Task Force, which advises BESE, will meet at noon on Tuesday to debate the same issue.
The MFP is the complex formula used to grant state aid to approximately 700,000 public school students.
Edwards’ proposed spending would also increase college faculty salary by an average of 4% and would be the first of its kind in 13 years, according to higher education officials.
The median salary is 14th in the region for teachers at two-year schools and 15th for four-year colleges, according to the Louisiana Board of Regents.
“The current executive budget sends a clear message: education is critical to our success and now is the time to make strategic investments in our people,” Kim Hunter Reed, Commissioner of Higher Education, said in a statement.
The Governor’s proposal also includes roughly the same funding for the Taylor Opportunity Program For Students – merit-based – and Go Grants – needs-based.
Those amounts are $ 12.2 million and $ 11 million respectively.
Capitol news agency writers Mark Ballard and Sam Karlin contributed to this report