UPDATE (6/24) -- Thank you for writing to your Representative about HB 59 – it worked! As you may have seen, HB 59 did pass on the House Floor this week, but LFT was able to work with the author to develop the needed amendments before the vote. This was only possible because so many of you spoke out about the need to protect school staff and most importantly, students from harmful practices.
On Thursday, May 14th the Senate Education Committee will hear Senate Bill 298 by Senator Katrina Jackson. This important legislation has the potential to positively impact students and teachers across our state by removing VAM scores from teacher evaluations. Click here to send a letter to the committee members.
The 2020 legislative session began Monday, March 9th. It kicked off with the Governor’s annual State of the State address on Monday afternoon and continued with a flurry of introductory committee meetings.
Learn more about LFT's five main legislative priorities this session:
1. Reduce Unnecessary Testing
2. Secure Pay Raises and Increased School Funding
3. Protect Retirement
4. Improve School Safety & Discipline
5. Expand and Protect the Rights of Working People
On the state-level, school funding is determined by the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP). It's a funding formula for Louisiana public schools. The MFP is seperate from what local school districts raise to fund their schools through taxes and local bond initiatives. Part of the MFP is dedicated to general school funding — that money goes to local school districts to use at their discretion — and part is reserved specifically for school employee pay, but both are critically important.
In 2019, Louisiana took a step in the right direction regarding pay raises and school funding. For the first time in a decade, the legislature passed an MFP that guaranteed raises for every teacher and support employee in the state, but it’s not enough. We have years of disinvestment to make up for and Louisiana educators are still below the Southern Regional Average for pay, which is why it’s vital that this year we continue to move forward.
LFT’s representative on the Task Force is Legislative and Political Director Cynthia Posey and today, she fought back against attempts to limit school funding and raises. Over the last few weeks, LFT took your concerns to the Governor and today he showed he heard us. His team did propose funding for teacher raises. And ultimately, the Task Force came together to take a united step forward towards getting even more funding for schools, teachers, and supports staff.
The MFP is the K-12 Funding Formula for Louisiana public schools. Passing a new MFP with additional funding for schools or teacher/school employee raises is never guaranteed. It’s a long, bureaucratic process and there’s a lot of opportunities for it to go wrong. Click here to learn more about the MFP and what we can do to ensure there's enough money available to pay for teacher and school employee raises.
Get to Know the REC
The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) decides how much taxpayer money lawmakers are allowed to spend. They usually base their projections off of the recommendations of bi-partisan economists who have extensively studied the Louisiana economy, but once again the REC is playing politics instead of doing what's best for our state.
This fiscal session will be very important for teachers and support staff all across the state and at LFT we will be watching closely. Each week throughout the session we’ll send out updates to keep you informed about what’s going on. This session is only 9 weeks long and we have a lot of work to do in order to protect our rights and ensure teachers and support employees get a raise – we need all hands on deck!
With a budget crisis looming over all other issues in the legislative session, lawmakers must still make important decisions about school safety, educator rights, retirement security and other important
matters.
Here are some of the goals of the LFT’s lobbying team in the regular legislative session: