Certain school support staff, including counselors, therapists and nurses, might not be getting stipends this year. This, according to information from the State Department of Education. That’s setting off alarm bells among unions representing those employees. D’Shay Oaks, the president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, says if those staffers are left on the stipend chopping block, they’ll be looking for alternate sources for the stipends.
“We’re in the process of working with some of the local superintendents and school boards to help, maybe for them to find some money to give the school counselors some stipends,” Oaks said.
Oaks says they have to be careful that providing stipends doesn’t cause any collateral damage – robbing Peter to pay Paul, per se.
“The problem is that whether the program will be hindered; some of the programs that deal with students, if they have to cut back on some of those programs. That’s going to be the key here,” Oaks explained.
Oaks says finding the money to provide support staff stipends would be easier in some areas than in others.
“The ones that I’m concerned about with having problems finding the stipend money are the rural areas that are already pinching pennies as is,” Oaks noted.
The scramble to find money for the stipends comes after voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have turned the annual stipends into permanent pay raises.