When the Louisiana legislative session begins in March, there will be much debate over Governor John Bel Edwards proposed $1500 pay raises for teachers. Chairman of the Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation, Blake Miguez, says everyone agrees teachers deserve more money, but it is the responsibility of the legislature to ensure that those raises are affordable and sustainable.
“I can appreciate all the challenges that the teachers face today in the classroom,” Miquez said.”And understand that our teachers needed to be paid more. The challenge that we have as legislators is understanding if we can afford to make those pay raises, and that’s what we’re going to the budget process to see.”
Miguez says that many of the funds that have created a surplus for the state won’t last forever and that lawmakers are concerned that the use of one-time dollars would put those raises in jeopardy down the road.
“The large concern from legislators is whether we’ll be able to afford these reoccurring expenditures for years to come,” he said. “Many believe that a lot of this is one-time money or it’s money that may not stay around for a year or two.”
Miguez knows that teachers have been hit hard by the pandemic and salaries that have increased by just five percent over the last decade but wants educators to know that state lawmakers are on their side.
“We understand that teachers, like many other industries, are fighting shortages in labor, and they’re also fighting in their normal daily lives,” said Miguez. “They have to pay these inflated prices due to skyrocketing inflation across our country and across our state.”
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