Louisiana has gone from having a teacher shortage to having a teacher crisis.
A recent state report showed that nearly 50-thousand students go without their regular teacher each day, and roughly 25 percent of teachers in the classroom are either uncertified or teaching outside of their field. State Representative Rick Edmonds says the crisis is only getting worse.
“We have a critical teacher in the state of Louisiana,” said Edmonds. “We’ve had it for several years, and it looks like it’s not going to let up anytime soon.”
To help plug the hole in the dyke, Edmonds wants to create inducements to bring retired educators back to school. He says some rules would have to be temporarily relaxed in order to provide those incentives, including one that caps what teachers can earn if they do return to a public school position.
“They can only earn 25 percent, as it relates to where they are on their retirement,” he said. “So, this would increase it to 50 percent, which gives them a little bit more of an incentive to make a little bit more money.”
Edmonds says the measure would only apply to those who retired by December 31 of 2021 and be limited to three years, to see if there is an impact. He also says there is strong support for the measure from local superintendents, teachers’ unions, and the Department of Education.
“At the end of three years, if it’s not working or we don’t need it anymore, then the bill goes away,” Edmonds said. “It’s not going to fix the problem, but it is going to help some. And I think we all see it that way.”
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