Let’s start with a simple fact: Teachers and school employees haven’t had a state pay raise in years. Our teacher pay is about $2,000 behind the Southern regional average, and the average salary of Louisiana teachers has actually gone down over the past two years.

Here’s what can’t happen until we get a state budget that is stable, predictable and fair: Teachers and school employees can’t get a pay raise. We can’t fix our roads and bridges, preserve our coastline, support colleges and universities, or provide other public services that we must have for a decent quality of life in Louisiana.

Lawmakers know that. As State Rep. Franklin Foil said, “Until we get the budget stable, I don’t think there is going to be a push to raise teacher salaries.”

After a decades-long struggle to get Louisiana teacher salaries to the Southern regional average, a new report shows that our teachers now earn nearly $2,000 less than our peers.

Louisiana teacher salaries reached parity with other Southern states in 2007, according to the Southern Regional Education Board. Our average salaries reached a high-water mark in 2012-13, at $51,381. But by 2015-16 (the last year that figures are available) our average salary plunged to $49,745. That year, the Southern average was $50,955 (the national average was $58,363).

Governor John Bel Edwards was the featured speaker at the Louisiana Federation of Teachers' Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel conference, held on February 3, 2018, at the Baton Rouge Crowne Plaza Hotel. This year's conference was held in conjunction with the Federation's annual legislative issues meeting.

Robin Herrin, a member of the Red River United chapter of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, was announced as the recipient of the LFT’s Mother Jones Award at the LFT's annual Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel Conference, held February 3, 2018 at the Baton Rouge Crowne Plaza Hotel.

St. Tammany paraprofessional Karen Hernandez received a Louisiana Federation of Teachers PSRP Scholarship at the Federation's annual Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel Conference, held on February 3, 2018 at the Baton Rouge Crowne Plaza Hotel.

In January, Education Week released its latest comparison of educational achievement among the states, and once again, Louisiana is near the bottom of the list. In fact, we are among the only eight states to score lower than a “C” on the publication’s list.

Louisiana earned a D+, ranking us alongside Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Idaho. Only New Mexico and Nevada had lower grades.