Louisiana lawmakers plan $1,000 pay raises for K-12 teachers, doubling previous proposal

[TexasTowelie]

Louisiana lawmakers intend to give K-12 public school teachers a $1,000 pay raise next year, more than double the amount proposed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, the leader of the Senate Education Committee said Thursday.

Sen. Cleo Fields, a Baton Rouge Democrat, said legislative leaders plan to include that salary hike in next year's budget, along with a $500 increase for support staff such as cafeteria workers and bus drivers. Louisiana remains well behind the Southern average for its education salaries.

Fields said the agreement was reached with Senate President Page Cortez and House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, along with the heads of the House and Senate budget committees, all Republicans. Edwards had proposed $400 teacher raises and $200 for support workers, though the Democratic governor had said he hoped that could be increased if more money became available.

The smaller raises "are insufficient," Fields said in a meeting of the Senate Education Committee.

Read more: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_2f882938-a92d-11eb-8101-bb2d260c842b.html

[snpsmom]

1. Average teacher pay in Louisiana

is $50,923, as compared to the average $56,791 that a full-time non-teaching worker makes in Louisiana, according to Business.org. Regionally, teachers make about $10K more than Louisiana teachers. Almost 30% of Louisiana teachers have Master's degrees.

A thousand dollars, which amounts to $5.55 per day of a 180-day school year, is a slap in the face to people who are constantly micromanaged in their professional practice, and who commit countless personal time to work-related endeavor (grading and lesson planning).