This proposed pay raise wonโt come to pass for at least another year. Meanwhile, schools across ถถา๕h continue to approve generous pay raises, with more considering following suit. They are responding to high inflation as well as a tight labor market thatโs led to lots of vacancies in school jobs.
, Louisiana is ranked 19th in the country in average teacher salaries but 43rd whenย it comes to starting teacher pay.
If approved, an 8% pay raise would send starting teacher salaries in Baton Rouge public schools north of $50,000 a year and average teacher pay to about $59,000 a year. Starting teacher pay in the school district pay recently increased to $47,800 a year thanks to a statewide pay raise, which will add $1,500 to teacher paychecks in the 2022-23 school year.
The school system has almost 6,500 employees, the biggest payroll in the state for a school district. The proposed pay raise would exclude the superintendent, chiefs, executive directors, the board attorney and the nine School Board members. School Board salaries are set by state law.
Supt. Sito Narcisse wants to go further. Heโs suggesting increasing employee salaries by a total of 12% over a three-year period. That amounts to a $5,700 raise for starting teachers and a $6,500 raise for teachers on average.
โThat would make us the leading (district) in the entire state in terms of attracting teachers,โ Narcisse predicted.
How the district stacks up
While big, a 12% pay raise would not quite make the school system tops in the state. A handful of districts already pay more.
St. Charles Parish schools is the new top district. Long a pacesetter on teacher salaries, last month . The move boosts its average teacher salary to about $65,000.
Its new starting teacher salary, if you add the state pay raise, is nearly $56,000 a year.
In the Baton Rouge region, Iberville Parishโs entry-level pay for teachers will be $55,000 in 2022-23, the highest in the region. East Feliciana Parishโs pay is the lowest in the regionย โ almost $39,000 a year thanks to the state pay raise.
Other districts have financed their own pay hikes in recent years. For instance, Pointe Coupee Parish has increased its entry teacher salary by $8,300, $6,000 of that an in-house pay raise.
Districts are offering an array of other generous incentives.
In that vein, Ascension Parish recently approved paying $10,000 extra a year to certain teachers if they are willing to work in schools in the Donaldsonville area.
to the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, Slaughter said the competition is getting more and more aggressive.
โSome of the superintendents are getting people to commit to the contracts earlier than ever,โ she said. โThey are trying to lock in their very good people.โ
One-time stipends are also common. Baker schools this past year paid out a $6,000 employee stipend. East Baton Rouge Parish has paid out one-time stipends each of the past two years. It is expected to pay another one in 2022-23 while it works out the details of a permanent pay raise.
โThere are a lot of ways to do that, to at least compensate people as we plan for that big jump,โ Narcisse said.
As part of its new compensation study, SSA Consultants compared the salaries for 200 positions in East Baton Rouge Parish to those in 10 other school districts in ถถา๕h. Five of those comparison districts are in the Baton Rouge region: Ascension, Livingston and West Baton Rouge parishes, as well as in Central and Zachary.
โBasically we drew a circle around Baton Rouge and said 'who do you touch,'โ said Cody Saucier, a project manager with SSA.
The consulting firm also compared East Baton Rouge to school districts in Alexandria, Lafayette, Lake Charles, New Orleans and Shreveport. The firm, however, did not include independent charter or private schools in its study. Charter schools in particular are known for being aggressive when it comes to starting teacher compensation.
For positions not exclusive to schoolsย โ about 22% of the jobs in East Baton Rouge schools โ SSA compared salaries to a national database, focusing on what those positions pay in the Baton Rouge region.
โWhen youโre looking to find an accountant, youโre not just competing with school districts,โ Slaughter explained, โbecause youโre competing with Lamar and Entergy and Pinnacle Polymers and ExxonMobil.โ
While pay gaps vary by position, Slaughter urged the board to avoid the temptation to โpick and chooseโ and enact an across-the board pay raise.
How to pay for it
The $27 million extra that an 8% pay raise is expected to cost could prove tough to fund. It would be one of the biggest line items in the districtโs $700 million budget.
Narcisse told the School Board that district finance staff have some financing ideas, but he offered no specifics.
Board member Jill Dyason urged Narcisse to move quickly, suggesting the board approve a pay raise for the 2023-24 school year sooner rather than later. She said itโs needed to lift morale and aid employee retention.
As a school district with more than 6,000 employees, Narcisse said it will take time to develop the pay raise proposal.
โIt is very complex,โ Narcisse said. โI know it looks simple. But there are a lot of moving parts.โ