March 8, 2024
The Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE) and Senator Blake Miguez have filed Senate Bill 205 (SB 205) which calls for teachers to receive additional pay for additional duties assigned outside of their normal scope of duties. Senator Miguez says that “it is time our teachers get paid for the appropriate amount of time they spend molding Louisiana’s greatest asset….our children! This is a much-needed change that should receive broad support from the legislature.” SB 205 also calls for payment to teachers who do not receive their daily, unincumbered, 45-minute planning period or the weekly equivalent of minutes. LAE passed the guaranteed planning period bill authored by Senator Katrina Jackson in 2022. “The lack of planning time along with additional duties assigned to teachers has led to teacher burnout” said Marcus Thomas, Director of Government Relations for LAE. This bill addresses a major cause of the crisis we are facing in a shortage of certified teachers in the classrooms and our ability to recruit and retain teachers in Louisiana. “The educator shortage affects all students in Louisiana. This bill will support the efforts of educators across the state who go above and beyond for their students every day,” says Dr. Tia T. Mills, President of LAE.
Last year, SB 205 was filed as HB 205 by LAE, authored by Representative Marcus Bryant. HB 205 passed unanimously through the legislature with bipartisan support. There were only 5 votes against HB 205 in the House out of 105 members and 1 vote against it in the Senate out of 39 members. HB 205 also passed the house education, senate education, house appropriations and senate finance committees favorably only to be vetoed by Governor John Bel Edwards. This is a great opportunity for our new administration to lead on a very important issue our teachers are facing where the previous administration fell short.
LAE and Senator Miguez did not forget about the Education Support Professionals (ESP) in the schools such as paraprofessionals, custodians, cafeteria workers, secretaries, etc. as they are protected under the Federal Labor Standards Act as non-exempt employees. Teachers are exempt.
Contact: Suzanne T. Harris [email protected] 225-235-2415
