Week 4: The House Takes Your Raise Out of Their Budget

The Louisiana House of Representatives has passed a budget that does not include any funding for teacher and school employee raises. Despite outcry from our state’s educators, the Louisiana House of Representatives chose to prioritize pet projects over raises for teachers and school employees. They are using a complicated debt repayment system: they want to pay off a portion of their UAL debt and have you believe that your school districts will use those savings to give teachers and school employees a raise. To be clear, there are $0 allocated to teacher and school employee pay raises in the budget that the House passed this week. MORE

Week 3 Legislative Update: We Need You to Take Action!

Next week, the House Education Committee will consider three particularly important bills: ✅ HB 21 (Stagni) Would allow school boards to offer school support staff who have infants that are critically ill or who are expectant mothers and have no remaining extended sick leave to take up to 30 additional days of extended sick leave for maternal and child health. This extended sick leave is already available to teachers, but this bill would ensure all school employees have the same access to extended maternal health leave to care for their families. ✅ HB 205 (Bryant) Would require teachers to receive extra compensation when they work outside their job description. Teachers would be paid an hourly rate when participating in after-school activities involving students. ✅ HB 348 (Jenkins) Changes the reporting requirements so that immediate action is taken to protect staff and students when there is a credible and imminent threat to an educator or student. The passage of this bill would help ensure that staff, students, and parents are notified of serious threats and that all credible threats are appropriately investigated. SEND A LETTER TO THE HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE MORE

Tell the Legislature to Support Raises for Teachers & School Employees

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Legislators are currently working to find any excuse to avoid funding a permanent raise for teachers and school employees this session. The truth is simple: the funding is available! The only question is whether or not legislators are willing to make teachers and school employees a priority. In an election year, lawmakers like to brag about the increases to teacher and school employee pay passed in recent years. Still these marginal increases haven’t kept up with neighboring states. Louisiana has continued to fall further behind the Southern Regional Average for teacher pay. Moreover, Office of Group Benefits (OGB) premium increases have outpaced raises passed by the legislature. Last year, teacher and support staff pay was increased by an average of 3%, but OGB increased rates by 4.5%. This is on top of the rising cost of living which impacts educators every time they buy groceries for their families or pay for a tank of gas. MORE

Week 2 in the 2023 Legislative Session

Two weeks down: seven to go! This week, LFT President Larry Carter testified before the House Appropriations Committee about the importance of passing a significant raise during this session. His remarks focused on the experiences of Louisiana’s teachers and school employees. Our latest survey results revealed ninety-seven percent of teachers and ninety-eight percent of staff felt that they did not make enough to raise a family. Ninety-one percent of teachers said that the statewide pay raises they received in recent years were less than increases in cost of living and almost eighty percent said they’ve been completely absorbed by the rise in insurance premiums. Eighty-four percent of teachers and two-thirds of staff said they have considered leaving their current position. Thirty-seven percent of teachers and staff are working at least one other job. MORE

April Newsletter

JFT Newsletter

April 14, 2023

School Board’s Decision To Close Schools and Relocate Students

The night of April 5th was one of tears, disappointment, and anger over the closing of six schools and relocating those students and others to other schools. The boardroom was full, and several other rooms were opened to accommodate the large crowds. Many teachers, students, and citizens spoke to support their schools and the importance of remaining at their present site. Ultimately, the board voted in favor of the MGT plan by 7 to 2.

JFT interim president, Sandra Hauer, spoke about the plan and how she

Teachers and school employees have to speak out for their students. Often, you are their only voice. In this week’s survey we are asking teachers and school employees to tell us about their student’s learning environment. Are your students getting the individualized attention they deserve? Are the standardized tests helping them succeed? Do they have access to safe buildings and the latest technology? We want to hear from you! You are with your students in school everyday. You know what they need. Help us explain to policy makers what they're missing about student learning. MORE

Professional Treatment Survey

Are you getting the professional treatment you deserve? Too often, teachers and school employees feel disrespected in their jobs. They're treated like babysitters or expected to sit through numerous meetings where they are lectured on things they’ve already studied extensively, often by people who haven’t worked in a classroom in decades. Sometimes educators feel respected by their principal and local administration, but disrespected by the school board or politicians in Baton Rouge. Sometimes the respect is missing at all levels. Tell us about your experience. MORE

Working Conditions Survey

Teachers' working conditions are students' learning conditions. When teachers and staff are under-resourced, over-worked and over-stressed, it impacts their students. Policymakers have an obligation to support teachers and school support staff because they are the ones who ensure our children get a quality education. Too often, the working conditions of teachers and support staff are not conducive to learning. Do you get the time you need to prepare for class and tend to your own needs? Are you getting the professional autonomy you deserve? Does the PD at your school help you become a better educator? We want to hear from you! Tell us about the working conditions in your school. Your responses on this survey are anonymous and will inform our legislative agenda, policy positions, and political endorsements. MORE

What unions do

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

Recruitment & Retention Survey

In school districts across the state there are vacancies. Teacher vacancies, para vacancies, food staff, custodians, bus drivers, nurses – schools across the state can’t find the staff that they need. Educators are leaving the profession or moving to other districts that offer better pay and working conditions. Louisiana needs to do more to keep these valuable teachers and staff in our schools. Policy makers at all levels of government are trying to find solutions, but they are missing the most obvious piece: ask the teachers and school employees. We want to hear from you about what you think would help end Louisiana's school staffing shortages. Have you ever considered leaving? What makes you think about quitting? What makes you stay? MORE