Louisiana teachers still likely to quit despite calls for raises from Governor

Governor John Bel Edwards is pushing for better pay for teachers as the 2022 regular session convenes, but it might not be enough to keep teachers in our state.

BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) ––– Governor John Bel Edwards is pushing for better pay for teachers as the 2022 regular session convenes, but it might not be enough to keep teachers in our state.

In his State of the State address, Governor Edwards pushed for raises for the fifth time, "shaping the future always, always begins with education." Edwards hopes to use "$148.4 million for teacher and support staff pay raises, which is at least a $1,500 raise for teachers, and 750 for support staff." 

"We're very excited that the governor, once again, put in his proposed budget, a pay raise statewide for teachers and school employees," said President of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, Larry Carter.

But Carter said that might not be enough, "while this is a great start, of course, to be competitive with neighboring states, we truly believe we have to push that past the 1500 and $750."

Teacher pay in Louisiana ranks 12th out of 16 states in the Southern Regional Education Board. "What's happening is we have teachers from across our state who are actually shopping in other states," said Carter. 

Governor Edwards said there is a possibility of larger teacher pay raises. "I'm recommending the first $50 million of any increase in revenue forecast that the REC recognized before the budget is passed, go to increasing teacher raises to $2,000," said Edwards.

While that may seem like a better deal, it doesn't compare to the competition. "If you look at our neighboring states like Mississippi, Texas even Alabama, there were raises anywhere from 3000 to $6,000 over the last maybe year or so," said Carter. 

Teachers have heard promises from legislators for years about making Louisiana a competitor in the region. "We've been hearing that they've been committed to seeing that we keep the best and the brightest, and we retain those veteran teachers that they put their mouth where the money is," said Carter.

Edwards hopes legislators can move toward a solution, "I believe that working together during the session, we can do even better."

"I just hope all of it comes together that by the end of the session, we'll be off talking about how competitive Louisiana is to its neighbors and they'll be looking at us instead of us looking at them," said Carter.