Educators in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona reached a breaking point this year with a wave of walkouts and strikes over pay.
Now, with teachers in Louisiana voicing concerns as well, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ has named raising teacher pay as his top legislative priority, aiming to raise Louisiana teacher pay $1,800 to reach the Southern states’ average of just under $51,000, LSU’s Manship School News Service reports.
Edwards, the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, was elected in 2015 with strong support from the teacher’s union. But it has taken Edwards and the Republican-led Legislature three years to stabilize the state’s finances. Although there is broad support to raise teacher pay, actually doing so is dependent upon finding a way to cover the $100 million-a-year cost without raising taxes.
“I don’t think there’s anyone that thinks that our professional teachers don’t need a pay raise,” says Dan “Blade” Morrish, R-Jennings, chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “You’re going to see extreme bipartisan support.”
Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, chair of the House Education Committee, says she supports the $1,800 salary hike if it can be done without raising taxes.
Read the full story, where the Manship School News Service explores the contentious middle ground between a desire to increase teacher pay and a desire to keep from adding to taxpayers’ financial load, and the odds of raises becoming reality.
