A recent study on teacher salaries finds starting pay for Louisiana teachers is among the highest in the South, but yet overall pay for teachers is among the lowest. Council for a Better Louisiana President Barry Erwin says public school teacher salaries do not grow very much over time.
“I am going to be here for 15-20 years and I am only going to be making a minimal amount more than I’m making now, or more than a starting teacher next to me is making, you know that’s not a good incentive to stay,” said Erwin.
Erwin says the data shows that average salary growth potential for teachers in Louisiana is the second lowest in the region, ahead of only Alabama. He says in most cases the difference is only about $10,000 a year between a first-year teacher and a 20-year veteran.
“When we have teacher shortages and having a hard time retaining teachers who are already in the classroom, this is a structural problem that I think needs to be a part of the teacher pay raise conversation,” said Erwin.
Erwin says salary hikes on a percentage basis instead of across the board pay raises is one way to address this situation.
“If we continue to give only across the board pay raises, we keep this very compressed salary growth issue in play,” said Erwin.
Erwin says local school systems also need to offer differential pay mechanisms to address hard-to-fill positions and reward high-performing teachers.
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