Legislative Overview

The 2022 Legislative Session began Monday, March 14th at noon. LFT is already monitoring hundreds of bills this session, and legislation will continue to be filed until April 5th. Things can change quickly with little notice, whether it’s the agenda of a committee meeting or an amendment to a bill. Please follow us on Facebook and subscribe to our updates and follow along at la.aft.org/legislation so that you can stay up to date with everything happening at the Capitol.

Here are a few of the most important bills we are tracking this year:

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State of Education IV

Teachers go to school for years so that they can understand how to help students learn. Student learning is the bedrock of everything they do in the classroom. The experience of seeing a student work to understand a concept and then finally ‘get it’ is one of the most rewarding experiences a teacher can have, and that is what drives educators to continue to do the work they do.

Unfortunately, over the last decade the teaching profession has changed significantly. Teachers don’t have the autonomy to individualize their lessons in the way their students might need. They don’t have the flexibility to utilize new techniques or materials that can inspire an unengaged student. Instead, they must stick to a strict curriculum designed to help students perform well on a very specific test.

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State of Education III

Why Do Educators in Louisiana Get Paid So Little?

The Minimum Foundation Program is the funding formula for Louisiana public schools. It was established in order to determine the minimum cost of education in all public elementary and secondary schools. However, given the current state of our schools, one must ask: how much does it cost to educate a child in Louisiana?

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JFT Update: Feb. 25th

Supporting President Kesler Camese-Jones
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for JFT President Kesler Camese-Jones. This has been a difficult time for our entire JFT family. Kesler is still in the hospital in critical condition and she is not able to receive gifts or cards at this time.

On Wednesday, March 9th we will have a Special Solidarity Day in honor of Kesler. Please wear your JFT union shirt (or any blue shirt, if you don't have a union shirt) and take pictures of you and your colleagues. In the pictures, you can hold up a sign identifying your school and saying "Kesler Strong" -- or hold a sign with a special message to Kesler. Whether you are getting together in a small group to take a picture, or joining up with your whole school – we know that your efforts will mean the world to our president.

Please email your pictures to lmarino@jft.org.
Make sure there aren’t any students featured in your pictures.

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House Bill 75

Parents and educators are committed to working together to solve the problems that our students face everyday and top of the list is solving the teacher shortage. We need to focus on increasing educator pay, fixing our broken accountability system, and ensuring that teachers have enough time everyday to adequately plan for their class.
Existing law already requires extensive transparency measures when it comes to text books and other instructional materials: http://la.aft.org/.../files/la._rev._stat._17_ss_351.1.pdf