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On Friday, the Policy and Planning Board of the Louisiana Office of Group Benefits (OGB) met to consider a proposed rate hike. Increasing rates would result in added health insurance costs for teachers and school employees across the state, along with other public employees. LFT sent out an action alert as soon as news of the meeting was made public. In less than 24 hours, thousands of teachers and school employees wrote to the board, asking them to vote ‘no’ on the proposed increase to the cost of their insurance. LFT Legislative and Political Director Cynthia Posey spoke before the Read More

In the final hours of the legislative session, the House chose not to take up SCR 2, the legislative instrument for the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), the funding mechanism for K-12 education. This action ended any hopes of a permanent pay raise for educators this legislative session. Instead, the legislature chose to pay educators one-time stipends. In an effort to appease educators, the body also included language in the preamble of the budget that asks future members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to include this year’s education funding in next year’s MFP. This will require future Read More

Tomorrow is the last day of the legislative session! Today, the House returned SCR 2, the legislative instrument for the MFP, "to the calendar" instead of voting to approve it. If the House does not pass the MFP (SCR 2) tomorrow, then teachers and support staff are not guaranteed a permanent pay increase. If the House and Senate approve a final budget tomorrow that does include funding for teacher and school employee raises, but the MFP fails to pass, then the pay increases will only be guaranteed for one year. That’s not a guaranteed pay increase – it’s a one-time Read More

This week the Senate approved raises for teachers and school employees! In the last week of the Session, it will all come down to the House. On Monday, the Senate passed SCR 2, which is the legislative instrument for the MFP. After some back and forth with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) over the amount of the MFP proposal, the Senate ultimately decided to pass the MFP in its original form. The MFP unanimously approved by the Senate this week includes a $2,000 raise for teachers and $1,000 for support staff, as well as differential payment stipends Read More

This week the Senate approved raises for teachers and school employees! In the last week of the Session, it will all come down to the House. On Monday, the Senate passed SCR 2, which is the legislative instrument for the MFP. After some back and forth with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) over the amount of the MFP proposal, the Senate ultimately decided to pass the MFP in its original form. The MFP unanimously approved by the Senate this week includes a $2,000 raise for teachers and $1,000 for support staff, as well as differential payment stipends Read More

​The Senate has passed an MFP with raises for teachers and school employees! The Senate is also expected to pass a budget (HB 1) this week, that fully funds the MFP. In order for teachers and school employees to receive a raise, the MFP (SCR 2) must pass through the legislative process in the House and the Senate AND the legislature must fully fund the MFP in the final version of the budget (HB 1). Now it's up to the House. The House has ONE WEEK to do the right thing and vote to pass the MFP with a $2,000 Read More

Legislators on both sides of the aisle are now saying that we’ve reached a tentative agreement to give teachers a $2,000 raise and support staff $1,000 – but at this point nothing is final. A lot can change in a matter of hours, so we must continue to put pressure on Senators to support pay raises for teachers and school employees. Read More

Legislators on both sides of the aisle are now saying that we’ve reached a tentative agreement to give teachers a $2,000 raise and support staff $1,000 – but at this point nothing is final. A lot can change in a matter of hours, so we must continue to put pressure on Senators to support pay raises for teachers and school employees. Read More

This week, two major things happened with your raise, and two actions are needed to make sure you receive a raise. #1: The Legislature has more money to spend in this year’s budget. The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) had their long anticipated meeting on Thursday. After hearing from the state’s economist, the REC adopted conservative revenue projections, recognizing $806 million in new general fund revenue. #2: The Senate Education Committee rejected SCR 2. On Thursday, the Senate Education Committee finally considered SCR 2, the legislative instrument for the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), which is the K-12 funding formula. The MFP Read More

This week, two major things happened with your raise, and two actions are needed to make sure you receive a raise. #1: The Legislature has more money to spend in this year’s budget. The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) had their long anticipated meeting on Thursday. After hearing from the state’s economist, the REC adopted conservative revenue projections, recognizing $806 million in new general fund revenue. #2: The Senate Education Committee rejected SCR 2. On Thursday, the Senate Education Committee finally considered SCR 2, the legislative instrument for the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), which is the K-12 funding formula. The MFP Read More

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! We are so grateful to all the teachers and school employees who show up for their students each day. Unfortunately, the Louisiana House of Representatives doesn't feel the same way. Last week, they removed the pay raise for teachers and school employees from the state budget. Despite outcry from our state’s educators, they chose to prioritize pet projects and a marginal increase in debt repayment instead of giving a raise to our teachers and school employees. Now, the budget is in the Senate and they are debating what to do next. The money is there, but Read More

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! We are so grateful to all the teachers and school employees who show up for their students each day. Unfortunately, the Louisiana House of Representatives doesn't feel the same way. Last week, they removed the pay raise for teachers and school employees from the state budget. Despite outcry from our state’s educators, they chose to prioritize pet projects and a marginal increase in debt repayment instead of giving a raise to our teachers and school employees. Now, the budget is in the Senate and they are debating what to do next. The money is there, but Read More

The Louisiana House of Representatives has passed a budget that does not include any funding for teacher and school employee raises. Despite outcry from our state’s educators, the Louisiana House of Representatives chose to prioritize pet projects over raises for teachers and school employees. They are using a complicated debt repayment system: they want to pay off a portion of their UAL debt and have you believe that your school districts will use those savings to give teachers and school employees a raise. To be clear, there are $0 allocated to teacher and school employee pay raises in the budget Read More

The Louisiana House of Representatives has passed a budget that does not include any funding for teacher and school employee raises. Despite outcry from our state’s educators, the Louisiana House of Representatives chose to prioritize pet projects over raises for teachers and school employees. They are using a complicated debt repayment system: they want to pay off a portion of their UAL debt and have you believe that your school districts will use those savings to give teachers and school employees a raise. To be clear, there are $0 allocated to teacher and school employee pay raises in the budget Read More

Next week, the House Education Committee will consider three particularly important bills: ✅ HB 21 (Stagni) Would allow school boards to offer school support staff who have infants that are critically ill or who are expectant mothers and have no remaining extended sick leave to take up to 30 additional days of extended sick leave for maternal and child health. This extended sick leave is already available to teachers, but this bill would ensure all school employees have the same access to extended maternal health leave to care for their families. ✅ HB 205 (Bryant) Would require teachers to receive Read More

Next week, the House Education Committee will consider three particularly important bills: ✅ HB 21 (Stagni) Would allow school boards to offer school support staff who have infants that are critically ill or who are expectant mothers and have no remaining extended sick leave to take up to 30 additional days of extended sick leave for maternal and child health. This extended sick leave is already available to teachers, but this bill would ensure all school employees have the same access to extended maternal health leave to care for their families. ✅ HB 205 (Bryant) Would require teachers to receive Read More

Legislators are currently working to find any excuse to avoid funding a permanent raise for teachers and school employees this session. The truth is simple: the funding is available! The only question is whether or not legislators are willing to make teachers and school employees a priority. In an election year, lawmakers like to brag about the increases to teacher and school employee pay passed in recent years. Still these marginal increases haven’t kept up with neighboring states. Louisiana has continued to fall further behind the Southern Regional Average for teacher pay. Moreover, Office of Group Benefits (OGB) premium increases Read More

Legislators are currently working to find any excuse to avoid funding a permanent raise for teachers and school employees this session. The truth is simple: the funding is available! The only question is whether or not legislators are willing to make teachers and school employees a priority. In an election year, lawmakers like to brag about the increases to teacher and school employee pay passed in recent years. Still these marginal increases haven’t kept up with neighboring states. Louisiana has continued to fall further behind the Southern Regional Average for teacher pay. Moreover, Office of Group Benefits (OGB) premium increases Read More

The AFT Plus Credit Card from Capital One LFT members can choose from three card options, including two with 1.5% unlimited cash back on purchases! All cards have competitive rates, U.S.-based customer service, and more. Plus, hardship grants for eligible cardholders. Read More

Louisiana Federation of Teachers has compiled the following resources to help inform members of their rights as schools begin to reopen in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic: AFT Frequently Asked Questions Q & A AFT Know Your Rights U.S. Dept. of Labor Employee Rights U.S. Dept. of Labor FFCRA Excerpt U.S. Dept of Labor FFCRA Q&A Read More