Louisiana Legislature passes permanent teacher pay proposal; voters to decide its fate

25th November 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Piper Hutchinson
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Two pieces of legislation that would make a temporary pay raise for K-12 teachers and school support workers permanent received final passage Friday in the Louisiana Legislature, but voters have to approve a constitutional amendment before the money appears in their paychecks next school year.

Together, House Bill 5 by Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, and House Bill 7 by Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, would use constitutionally protected funds to pay down nearly $2 billion dollars in teacher retirement system debt. It also requires local school districts to use money they would have put toward debt payments to make a $2,000 stipend the Legislature has provided on a temporary basis for two years a permanent part of teacher’s salaries.

A $1,000 stipend for support workers would also be made permanent.

Emerson’s bill is a constitutional amendment that requires voter approval and also contains several other changes required to make Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s tax package complete.

Tying in the teacher pay aspect into the amendment, which also raises the state sales tax to five percent starting Jan. 1, could play a vital role in turning out voters for a special election in March.

Making the teacher pay raise permanent is one portion of Landry’ ambitious plan. The governor has faced pushback from Democrats on portions of his proposal that could increase the tax burden of low- and middle-income.

Bacala’s bill, which requires school districts to use the savings created by the retirement debt payment in Emerson’s bill to fund the raise, unanimously passed the House and the Senate.

The three funds Emerson wants to use to pay down the debt – the Louisiana Quality Education Trust Fund, the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund and the Education Excellence Fund – currently support various educational programs.

Emerson’s bill passed the Senate unanimously last Friday (Nov. 22). When it returned to the House for approval on Senate amendments, it easily passed the two-thirds threshold, 70 members, on an 87-11 vote.

Using the money to pay down the unfunded accrued liability of the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana (TRSL), which presently totals about $9 billion, would free up about $287 million annually for local school districts.

The debt payment wouldn’t make enough money available to fund making the raise permanent for every school district, but Bacala said he believed it would cost the state around $200,000 to make up the difference, a small drop in the bucket of the entire state budget.

An analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Office said the amount the state would need to provide could be anywhere between $70,000 and $6.2 million.

Senators added amendments to the bill that allow any school district that sees an excess in savings to use the money for early childhood education, summer enrichment programs and compensation for staff in areas with critical shortages. Another amendment requires school districts to certify to the state that they have given the pay raise to their employees and report how they use any excess dollars.

Bacala’s bill does not explicitly address charter schools, whose teachers are largely not in the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana. Orleans Parish, where nearly all schools operate under charters, would see the least benefit from the bill, but lawmakers are looking at alternatives to fund raises so charter teachers do not see a pay cut.

“It’s my intention to treat everyone equally and make everyone whole,” House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, said last week.

The Bacala-Emerson proposal would also free up about $75 million annually for Louisiana’s four higher education systems annually pay toward their retirement system debt. Legislators, including McFarland, currently seem in favor of allowing higher education to retain that savings, but this would not be finalized until the Legislature crafts the 2025-26 budget in its spring legislative session.

Allowing higher education to retain these savings would make up for the approximately $20 million in support institutions will lose by dissolving the three state funds.

This article originally published in the November 25, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.

Tags:  Education, Louisiana, Teacher pay