Since East Baton Rouge Parish school board members voted to defer on a resolution that would have rejected all future industrial tax exemption requests, some have wondered whether the proposal is effectively dead or not.
Answers vary depending on who you ask.
Superintendent Warren Drake says he thinks the issue will come up again—but not until after the board’s June meeting when it has to pass a budget for the next year. After that meeting, he says the board plans to take a deep-dive into the resolution wording to see if we can find alternate ways to boost teacher pay.
“Deferring it was not meant to do away with it,” he says. “It was to make sure we get it right.”
What exactly needs to be righted? The numbers, for starters, Drake says.
Proponents, ranging from school employees to members of Together Baton Rouge, touted the resolution as a way to increase teacher pay, which hasn’t been raised since 2008.
Louisiana has the second-lowest teacher salaries in the nation, the left-leaning group contends, and Baton Rouge is ranked 53rd out of 69 school districts for teacher pay—a claim Drake says is subject to dispute.
“They say that our teachers are some of the lowest paid in Louisiana based on an hourly rate,” Drake says. “Teachers aren’t paid on an hourly basis. They’re paid a salary.”
He says that salary—$44,500 for brand-new teachers with a bachelor’s degree, and $52,061 on average for those teachers in the middle of their careers—actually ranks 15th in the state, with the parish paying its teachers more on average than the three largest districts in the state.
Still, Drake agrees teachers and other school employees should be paid more. He just doesn’t think tying their salaries to ITEP is the way to do it. Most school board members agree.
“The two subjects are two separate subjects,” says board member Jill Dyason, who does not think the proposal will be brought up again in its current form. “We need to make our decisions on ITEP, and then we need to make decisions on the employee raises that are being requested.”
Dyason says there is no way to know whether the $28 million to $30 million Together Baton Rouge says the district could give back to employees by cutting the exemptions would ever manifest.
Another part of “getting it right” means making sure all voices are heard at the table, says school board Vice President Connie Bernard, including that of board member Mike Gaudet, who sites on the city-parish’s ITEP committee—along with Dawn Collins—and was absent from last night’s meeting.
Bernard, not happy the board was only given a few days to comb through the resolution, suggests it won’t be until at least July before the matter returns to the agenda.
Collins, who does not think the issue is “completely dead,” says she was disappointed with the board’s decision to defer the resolution indefinitely rather than pushing it back to a finite date.
“People are talking about their livelihoods,” said Collins, the other ITEP committee member. “The simple act of showing good faith by saying, ‘We will revisit this by XYZ date’ would’ve gone a long way with our employees.”
Others don’t think the board sent a strong enough message, with board member Mark Bellue saying the proposal should have been voted down, saying ITEP is important for economic development.
Board member Evelyn Ware-Jackson says the group will use this time to explore other ways to find the finances necessary to fund raises. Collins says she understands why ITEP was identified as an opportunity but isn’t “married to the idea,” if board members can find another funding source.
