Legislation

Action Alert: Save Your Retirement System

On Monday, the Senate Retirement Committee will consider Senate Bill 22. This legislation would require teachers and state employees to work until the age of 67 in order to receive their full benefit, regardless of how long they have worked. It could result in slashed benefits for future employees, casting retirees into poverty.

Send a letter to the Senate Retirement Committee asking them to oppose Senate Bill 22.

Today, the MFP Task Force met to discuss the funding formula for Louisiana K-12 Public Schools. Each year, the task force meets to develop a recommendation for the school funding formula. That recommendation will be considered by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education when they develop their proposal for consideration by the Louisiana Legislature.

Today, Governor Edwards announced that he plans to include a small pay increase for teachers and school employees in his new Executive Budget. He proposed $400 for teachers and $200 for support employees. What remains unclear, is if this would result in a sustained raise or a one-time stipend, and whether or not there will also be additional monies put in level 1 of the MFP for schools to use more generally.

This week we conclude the second week in the ongoing Special Legislative Session, bringing us to nearly the half way point. Due to the oncoming Hurricane Delta, some meetings were moved up until earlier in the week, most notably both the House Education and Senate Education Committees conducted their weekly meetings at the same time on Wednesday morning. They both considered important legislation, but here are some of the highlights:

One of the most important bills that we will hear in this abbreviated legislation is Senate Bill 31 by Senator Cleo Fields. If passed, this bill would prohibit the use of statewide student assessments conducted during the 2020-2021 school year from being used to evaluate teacher performance. Essentially, schools could (and likely would) still have testing this year, but the scores couldn't count against a teacher's performance evaluation.

The Louisiana legislature has convened a Special Session to begin Monday. It shall end no later than 6 P.M. on October 27, 2020 and there are 70 different items that may be subject to legislation during the session. Included in the items enumerated in the Call are state tax revenue and school funding, among others.

Because the session was called so quickly, there are still any number of different bills being written that could impact teachers, support employees and our students. While the session may be short, decisions will be made that could have a lasting impact on Louisiana schools and it is vital that educators stay up to date about the ongoing issues.

All across the country, school officials are working to pass legislation that would shield them from lawsuits in the event that their employees or students were to contract COVID-19 at school. In Louisiana, this effort took form in House Bill 59, which was introduced at the request of the Louisiana School Boards Association.

The original intent of this legislation was to protect economically disadvantaged school districts from frivolous lawsuits that could bankrupt the system, but it provided far reaching immunity to school boards (and later we saw the addition of colleagues/universities

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. As amended, the bill does not allow school districts to claim immunity if they violate federal, state or local laws or policy under this statue. If a claim covered by this statue arises, your ability to

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 9^th. 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

Action Alert: Save Your Retirement System

MFP Task Forces Passes Recommendation on School Funding

Meager Pay Raise or Meager Stipend? Ask the BESE and the Governor…

2nd Special Session: Week Two!

Ask the Senate Education Committee to Support SB 31

The Next Legislative Session Starts TOMORROW

House Bill 59 - Does it Help Teachers?

Tell Lawmakers to Put the Safety of Students and Educators First

VAM Shouldn't Be Part of Teachers' Evaluations

The Legislative Session Began Monday!