After voters on Saturday that would have funded higher salaries for teachers, it’s unclear whether educators will still receive a raise next school year or instead see their paychecks shrink.
One of four constitutional changes championed by Gov. Jeff Landry that over the weekend, Amendment 2 would have made one-time pay stipends the Legislature approved last year — $2,000 for teachers and $1,000 for support staff — a recurring part of their salaries.
But now, without funding for permanent raises and with the stipends set to expire after this school year, there are no plans to keep teacher pay at its current level. As a result, Louisiana educators could see their paychecks decrease unless the Legislature finds funding for another round of stipends or a permanent increase.
While campaigning for the amendment, Landry said there was no alternative plan to raise teacher salaries: “If Amendment 2 does not pass,” he , “there is no backup stipend.”
When asked Monday, a spokesperson for Landry did not say whether the governor would support additional stipends for teachers if lawmakers proposed them during the coming Legislative session.
“We tried to give them a permanent pay raise so our teachers never had to go back to the [Legislature] again to advocate for their money,” the spokesperson, Kate Kelly, said in a statement. She added Landry that will “continue to advocate for structural reform to provide a permanent pay increase for our teachers.”
However, it’s not clear how permanent raises would be possible without the funding that was expected to come from the passage of Amendment 2.
If voters had approved the amendment, it would have dissolved three longstanding education trust funds and used that money to pay down debts related to the state’s teachers’ retirement fund, for which individual districts currently pay interest. School systems would then have been expected to put some of their savings, estimated to be about $200 million annually, toward giving teachers and support staff raises.
Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, who serves on the House Education and Legislative Budget Committees, said she supports raising teacher pay but understands why voters declined to approve the 115-page amendment, pointing to its length and complexity.
“People were concerned about an amendment with so much in it,” she said. “We have to go back to the drawing board.”
Freiberg said she would support either permanent teacher raises or one-time stipends this session — if Landry and lawmakers can find funding. She noted that the governor’s proposed budget, released in February, does not include funding for stipends.
Last year’s proposed budget also did not initially include money for stipends. The governor agreed later to include the funding in exchange for $24 million in cuts to early childhood education subsidies.
Richard Nelson, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Revenue, said this year’s steep budget shortfall will likely make it more difficult to find funding for teacher pay.
“There’s just not as much wiggle room in the budget,” he said in an interview Monday.
The state’s largest teachers union, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, had supported the amendment. Since voters rejected it, LFT President Larry Carter said that he has been in touch with lawmakers and Gov. Landry to figure out next steps.
He said the big question now is how the state would pay for a salary increase.
“With the amendment failing,” he said, “funding for teacher pay raises is uncertain.”
