The Louisiana Legislature has approved two bills to make temporary pay raises for K-12 teachers and support staff permanent, pending voter approval of a constitutional amendment in March. House Bill 5, by Representative Tony Bacala of Prairieville, and House Bill 7, by Representative Julie Emerson of Carencro, allocate funds from protected education trusts to reduce nearly $2 billion in teacher retirement system debt. Bacala says this shift would free up approximately $279 million annually for local school districts, enabling a $2,000 raise for teachers and $1,000 for support staff.
“And that will free that money up so instead of the school system using their cash to pay teachers salaries right now they are using it to pay off debt. And when we eliminate that debt it frees that money up to give pay raises.”
Bacala says both amendments allow surplus savings to fund early childhood education and address staff shortages.
“And if there’s some leftover money with any particular school system, they can use it for things like early education or summer programs or giving a bigger raise.”
Ba ala’s bill, which unanimously passed the House and the Senate requires school districts to use the savings created by the retirement debt payment in Emerson’s Bill to fund the permanent raise.
“Last couple of years we have been dedicating about $200 million a year toward temporary pay raises. So, this takes what we’ve been doing and making it permanent on the local side.”
