The Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) has officially endorsed Amendment 2, a measure on the March 29 ballot that seeks to make a one-time stipend a permanent salary increase for teachers and support staff. LFI President Larry Carter says it’s not a pay raise.
“Right now it’s $2,000 for teachers and $1,000 for all support employees.”
Two years ago, teachers received a two-thousand-dollar pay raise, but it’s considered a stipend and not permanent. Legislators did not want to make it permanent because of future funding concerns. Carter says the passage of Amendment Two would protect that funding against future budget deficits…
“If for example there’s a deficit conversation and the stipend gets rolled off, there not permanent so they can be taken away. So, this would ensure that if it passes it will become a permanent part of their salary.”
There has been a lawsuit filed by a pastor and two teachers that the ballot language is misleading, but Carter says LFT is backing Amendment 2.
But we are not aware of that legal challenge. We understand there are a lot of individuals who feel that they want to deal with this issue differently than we are dealing with it. We think that this is the positions and our leaders that we are for Amendment 2.”
Early voting begins tomorrow.
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