The House Appropriations Committee approves a 30-billion dollar budget for next fiscal year that contains funding for a teacher pay raise that’s more than the governor’s proposed one-thousand dollar pay hike. Metairie Representative Cameron Henry says the state can do better than a one-thousand dollar raise…
“There’s a 20 million dollar increase to teacher pay raise. That will take the teacher pay raise increase from a thousand dollars to 1,200, and the support workers from 500 to 600.”
Henry’s proposed budget does not include an additional 39-million dollars for school districts, which is funding that the governor wants to see included. New Orleans Representative Walt Leger says local school leaders say the extra money can go towards school supplies and teacher retirement costs…
“While i think the teachers deserve more of an increase, it is very beneficial for the districts to receive some of this funding to offset some of the expenses associated with it.”
Henry says school districts are receiving a lot of money, while teachers are underpaid…
“Right now we are about at the southern average for the money that is spent per pupil, about 12,100, but we’re not at the pay rate for teachers pay, so this is taking an additional 20 million dollars to try to get teachers back up to the southern average.”
The full House is set to vote on the budget Thursday.
