[StBernard] EDITORIAL: News Star supports Governor's fight for teacher pay increase

[Westley Annis]

EDITORIAL: News Star supports Governor's fight for teacher pay increase

Periodically, the press office will publish editorials and columns that feature Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's work in various areas. 

The News Star: Teacher raises right for us all
Published: May 25, 2007
View the article online <http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070525/OPINION01/705250309> 

Until Kathleen Blanco signs on the dotted line, Louisiana's teachers can't count on their bottom line.

Nonetheless, partway through this legislative session, there is no discernable opposition mounting to the governor's mission of elevating the average teacher pay in this state to the Southeastern regional average.

That has been a stated goal of the governor's since she launched her gubernatorial campaign in 2003, and an often-restated goal since she took office the following January. The check is not in the mail, teachers, but it is oh, so close to getting there. 

This week, the numbers looked right for the people who stand in front of Louisiana's public school classrooms. An annual pay raise of $2,375 each for Louisiana's 56,893 certified teachers and administrators is securely in the governor's budget. The total cost to taxpayers: $157.5 million.
In addition, the budget includes raises of some 5 percent for the 7,100 full-time faculty that staff Louisiana's public universities. They, too, need the pay boost.

The up side for teachers is obvious. Louisiana pay under this plan would approximate or rival pay in the neighboring states of Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi. (And in an area rich with teachers in the work force, area businesses and retailers would likely profit by having teachers with more money to spend here.)

But the benefits for Louisiana are abundant, as well. Equal pay on this side of Louisiana's borders might keep more certified teachers inside the state following college graduation. It might lure other qualified classroom teachers to this state, as well, because, no matter our many challenges, Louisiana is still an attractive and appealing place to live and learn.

That's why legislators, Democrat and Republican, appear to be lining up in support of the governor's pay proposal. They seem to appreciate the efforts that classroom teachers make and the product that they are producing. They seem cognizant, as well, of the need to keep Louisiana's brightest teaching prospects, trained at our state's campuses, inside the state lines.

"This is the largest teacher pay raise in the history of the state," State Rep. Charles McDonald, D-Fairbanks, said, "and nobody is making any noise about it."

Meeting the challenge of paying teachers at the regional average is one thing, keeping it there is another. Average pay is a moving target; as other states increase their teacher pay, Louisiana must keep pace. But the first step for our state is to get to the regional average, which the governor's proposed increase would do.

Louisiana has talked for years about lifting teacher pay in a meaningful way. We have the money to do it now. It's a win-win situation.

So let's win.

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