With the failure of Amendment 3 at the ballot box over the weekend, the fate of teacher pay is now in the hands of the legislature. Shreveport Senator Alan Seabaugh says he doubts that the legislature will be able to give teachers another $2,000 stipend for the next fiscal year, since the failure of the proposed amendment will put education funding about $500 million in the hole.
“We took a $100 million hit from the Revenue Estimating Conference, and we took at least a $400 million hit by the constitutional amendment not passing,” Seabaugh said.
Seabaugh says contrary to popular belief, public school teachers are NOT state employees; thus, their salaries are not set directly by the legislature.
“The State gives local school boards money to do with as they see fit. If they want to use that money for teacher pay raises, they can,” Seabaugh noted.
With teachers staring at a pay cut for next year, let alone a lack of pay raise, what about the bill to increase the governor’s salary that’s currently making its way through the legislature? Seabaugh says it’s being greatly pared down.
“It’s my understanding that that bill is being amended to take the governor and the statewide out, so nobody will be getting a pay raise. The only thing remaining in it is an increased reimbursement of expenses,” Seabaugh explained.
Support staff had received a $1,000 stipend for this school year, which also stands to go away barring any legislative action to the contrary.