Richland Federaton of Teachers and School Employees

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The fight for your pay is not over yet. Act now to MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT TAKE HOME LESS PAY NEXT YEAR!

Remember, this is the same stage of the process where your raise was turned into a stipend last year.

The reality is you could make less next year than this year if legislators remove the funding Senate Finance restored to HB1.

Take action NOW and demand lawmakers pay you what you deserve!

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/urgent-act-now-to-protect-teacher-stipends

Please join us for a Lobby Day at the capital!

Scan the QR code and sign the petition.

Week 7: Your unions are fighting to make your voice heard. This week, legislators will hear several critical bills filed by your unions that fight for a permanent raise, protect teacher’s right to a fair workload and allow teachers to teach free from disruption.

Pay Raise: ❌The 24-25 MFP Formula (HCR21) passed through the House last week without a permanent raise. Instead, two different stipends were approved by the House. The bottom line is that there is NO teacher pay raise in the MFP and it will be up to local districts as to whether or not teachers receive a stipend. The only way to ensure that teachers are fairly compensated is for the Senate to send the MFP back to BESE to add a permanent pay raise in Level Four, which is necessary for it to become permanent.

Workload & Compensation: ✅SB 205 will be heard in Senate Finance this week and serves as a lifeline for teachers, safeguarding your rights to a reasonable workload and fair compensation for your hard work.

The reality is that our school districts are being run on unpaid overtime. Not only are teachers not paid for their work, but valuable time and resources are being taken away from teachers and staff being able to care for their families.

Districts must make a decision about whether or not what they are asking of teachers is worth paying them for.

There are several bills that attempt to take away some of the burden on teachers, however LFT is concerned that they may fall short of really reducing the workload.

Discipline & Safety: ✅HB 322 will be heard in Senate Education and protects your right to teach free from distraction, so that the children in the class have the opportunity to learn. This bill serves as a proactive measure to help children receive the help they need while maintaining a productive classroom environment.

Support staff injured while helping students deserve the same protections as teachers. ✅SB 213 provides for secure and adequate time to heal from injury for support personnel who are injured while helping students. SB 213 passed out of Senate Education and will be heard on the Senate floor.

Protecting your voice: Thursday morning, your union fought for you to receive a permanent raise and against you receiving less compensation next year. Legislators praised the bill to address the concerns you brought to us over unfair workloads and discipline. These bills were filled by your union!

But, last Thursday afternoon, several bills passed through the labor committee which would take away the right for your union to advocate on your behalf. These bills are clearly aimed at stopping us from taking a civil, principled stand against current anti-public education and anti-public services legislation. Bills that will take away your voice.

Con Con: ❌HB 800, the constitutional amendment bill advanced through committee last week despite concerns of time constraints meaning limited citizen input, scrutiny, and lack of transparency, and the influence of private funding on the convention's outcomes.

The current constitution safeguards funding for public schools, fair distribution of state funds among districts, and protections for Medicaid and public employees' retirement security. Moving these protections from the constitution to statutes would make them vulnerable to change which could have harmful ramifications to our state for years to come. HB 800 is scheduled to be heard in House Appropriations on Monday and could come to a vote on the House floor later this week.

Read more and TAKE ACTION:

Act now for your right to "Teach Without Distraction"! Please click the link to SIGN a letter to your legislator asking them vote in favor of HB322.

Tell Louisiana lawmakers to pass HB 322 ACT NOW to protect teachers' right to teach free from distraction ✅LFT filed HB 322 to address educators' challenges in maintaining a conducive learning environment for all students. We recognize that the current law is not being upheld in schools, hindering the ability to effectively address beha...

Last year, we asked teachers and support staff to take a series of surveys to gauge the priorities and concerns of educators in Louisiana. The results were not surprising. Your top concerns have not changed over the past decade.

Now is the time to stay vigilant! In the coming weeks, we will ask you to take multiple actions on the issues you told us are most important to you: a fair workload, a permanent pay raise, and discipline and safety.

COMPENSATION: Where is your raise??
LFT was the only organization to testify before the House Appropriations Committee last week, reminding legislators of their promise of a permanent pay raise to you and urging them to keep it. The governor has said there is money in the budget for another $2,000 teacher and $1,000 support staff stipend, but no line item ensures the money will actually make its way to your paycheck.

Last month, BESE said the legislature would not provide a permanent pay raise to teachers and support staff because of the 2025 fiscal cliff; they could only propose another one-time stipend.

Despite arguments that a permanent raise is not fiscally responsible, numerous bills for education savings accounts, tutoring programs, charter expansion, and other high-dollar agenda items are making their way through the legislature.

The House has yet to indicate if they will use the $197 million for teacher pay or another purpose. Please look for an action alert to make sure your legislator knows you want them to keep the promise made to you!

WORKLOAD: Several bills have been filed to remove non-core instructional requirements and mandated teacher training. BESE will have the final authority on training and instructional requirements and the authority to add additional requirements. Those in our schools are grateful for any attempt to lighten educators' workloads and appreciate any time given back to them. LFT will work with legislators as these bills move through the process to ensure your voice is heard.

✅SB 205 Miguez which would require additional compensation for teachers who work overtime or beyond their regular duties under specific circumstances, advanced through the Senate Education Committee last week and will be heard by the Senate on Monday, March 25.

DISCIPLINE: The Right to Teach Free from Distraction
✅HB 322 Stagni was filed in response to the frustration of educators who are disheartened with having their efforts to provide a quality learning environment for all students hindered because the current law is not followed or they are discouraged from taking disciplinary action to correct a student who violates school rules or interferes with an orderly education.

This bill has yet to be scheduled in House Ed. LFT is concerned that due to the shortened legislative session, it will not make it through the legislative process in time. Please be on the lookout for an action alert to tell your legislator that this bill is important to you!

School Support Staff:
✅SB 213 Jenkins provides for secure and adequate time to heal from injury for support personnel injured while helping students. This ensures that school staff injured while assisting students in preventing danger or injury have enough time to recover properly. Currently, teachers receive a full year to recover while support staff only receives 90 days. It has not been scheduled in Senate Education.

Read the full update:

Week 2: Compensation, Workload, and Discipline Last year, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers asked teachers and support staff to take a series of surveys to gauge the priorities and concerns of educators in Louisiana. The results were not surprising. Your top concerns have not changed over the past decade: Compensation, Workload, and Disciplin...

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Tell BESE: Raises Over Stipends On Wednesday, May 24th, BESE will hold an emergency meeting to reconsider their MFP proposal and present something different to the legislature. BESE will have to decide whether to prioritize stipends or raises in their new proposal. Join me in asking them to support raises!

Tell BESE: Raises Over Stipends On Wednesday, May 24th, BESE will hold an emergency meeting to reconsider their MFP proposal and present something different to the legislature. BESE will have to decide whether to prioritize stipends or raises in their new proposal. Join me in asking them to support raises!

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Get Your Testimony on the Record On Monday, the Senate Finance Committee will hear public testimony on the budget. This is our chance to tell the Committee to make raises for teachers and staff a top priority. Unfortunately, this meeting has been scheduled for a time when most teachers and school employees are still in school, but....

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Compensation Survey Last year, Louisiana passed a $1,500 raise for teachers and $750 for school support staff. It was an historic raise by Louisiana standards, but still significantly lower than increases passed in neighboring states. At the same time, LDOE passed a bill that forces teachers to pay a fee for a duplicat...

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What Were the Problems with the New eSER System? In September, LDOE extended the deadline for inputing data into the eSER system until December 16th because of glitches in the rollout of the new system. It has been over two months since these issues were raised with LDOE, BESE, and the Senate Education Committee, but the problems remain. Special E...

58th Annual Louisiana Federation of Teachers Convention
Reclaiming Our Future
seizing the moment

On Tuesday, October 11th, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will consider public recommendations regarding the Minimum Foundation Program (MPF) for next year. The only way to ensure that additional funding will go directly to teacher and school employee raises is for that money to go into level four of the MFP.

Join us in asking BESE to prioritize raises for public school teachers & school employees!

http://la.aft.org/bese/tell-bese-prioritize-raises-teachers-school-employees

How Do You Feel: LDOE extends the deadline for eSER data, but not for IEP entry. After receiving emails from hundreds of LFT members, LDOE announced that they would give teachers until December 16th to get all their information into the glitchy eSER system. Teachers are still required to get in all their IEPs by October 1st, the only difference is that now you're allowed to subm...

We are receiving calls from members around the state, who tell us that they are being denied planning time. Let us know what's happening in your school: https://forms.gle/YBh9KtgQP8Mcm4R6A

The Planning Time law was recently amended. The new law states:

“A. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall adopt necessary rules and regulations requiring each city and parish school board to provide a minimum of forty-five minutes daily uninterrupted planning time, or its weekly equivalent, for every teacher actively engaged in the instruction and supervision of students in the public schools. Implementation of planning time as required in this Section for teachers shall not result in a lengthened school day or a reduction in student daily instructional time.”

What's happening in your school? Are you being asked to complete tasks, cover classes, or attend meetings during your planning time?

Let us know by completing this survey: https://forms.gle/YBh9KtgQP8Mcm4R6A

Praxis exam no longer requirement for teachers in Louisiana Potential teachers would just need a bachelor’s degree, then take a content test and be willing to enroll in prep programs.

Students deserve safe and welcoming schools,and parents need to know that their children are safe. Educators and school staff deserve to be able to focus on students; they should not have to prepare to be human shields to protect students. All of us deserve to know that our schools are safe. PLEASE AVOID TALK OF ARMING STAFF! If we are being honest, ARMING staff is a last-ditch hope - not an effective means of saving lives. Please contact your Senator, it's time to take action to end gun violence.
Please wear orange on tomorrow and stand in solidarity to end gun violence. 🧡🧡🧡🧡

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Day of Action!

Tell Senate Finance: Fund Teacher & School Employee Raises In the coming days, the Senate Finance Committee will determine how much💰to allocate for teacher & school employee raises. If the Senate doesn't vote to fund raises in the budget, then they won't go through! The Governor and BESE have stated that additional money recognized at the May REC meeting...

If you are passionate about the legislation you’re seeing this session, meet us for an opportunity to hear from your legislators and let your voice be heard!

Join us throughout the day this Tuesday — May 17th!

RSVP: https://forms.gle/2EqyegCDDWQd5g1QA

Week 8 in the Legislature On Monday morning the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) will meet to review and revise the Official Revenue Forecast for FY22 and FY23 as well as recognize FY21 year-end balances. It is widely expected that the REC will recognize additional revenue. The question is, how will the legislature choose...

On Tuesday, the House Education Committee passed HB 688 by Rep. Phelps without objection. This was one of the two bills aimed at increasing employee rights: it would give teachers the ability to appeal if their sabbatical leave is denied.

(The other employee rights bill on the agenda yesterday, HB 819, was pushed until next week.)

PAY INCREASE UPDATE

Will School Employees Receive a Pay Raise? UPDATE: BESE Approves MFP Proposal UPDATE: On Wednesday, April 23rd the House Education Committee considered and approved HCR 23 (Harris), which is the legislative instrument for the Minimum Foundation Program. HCR 23 reflects the MFP exactly as it was proposed by BESE. It includes a $1,500 pay rais...

UPDATE:

Week 6 in the Legislature ✔️ Pay Raises & The MFP ✔️ Raises for School Bus Owner Operators ✔️ Ending the Onslaught of Trainings ✔️ Teacher Voice in SLTs ✔️ Preserving Local Control of ITEP ➖ Return to Work ❌ Voucher Expansion Bills ❌ Eliminating Local Input in the Creation of Corporate Charter Schoo...

House Bill 349 by Rep. Bryant passed House Education Committee today. It would increase the time that bus divers have to appeal an interim disciplinary action from 10 days to 20 days.

Week 3 in the Legislature This week brought an unexpected twist. The 2022 Regular Legislative Session was paused and interrupted a Redistricting Veto Override Session. On Monday, the legislature announced that a supermajority of legislators did not return ballots indicating they did not want to hold a veto override session.....

Tell the House Education Committee: Don't Expand a Failed Voucher Program On Wednesday, March 30th the House Committee on Education will hear a litany of bills aimed at increasing the state’s school voucher program, rebranded into Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Louisiana's voucher system is failing students, now is not the time to expand it. Tell the House Education...

What is Causing the Teacher Shortage? Legislators are finally beginning to see the teacher shortage for the crisis that it is, but many do not yet realize that solving this crisis will take an overhaul of Louisiana's educational policy. As a state we need to take a hard look at ourselves, at what we are currently doing that’s driving ...

Week 2

Week 2 in the Legislature Two weeks into the legislative session and, so far, the legislature has yet to tackle the most controversial bills of the session. Committee meetings have focused on more mundane bills but an obvious elephant-in-the-room as tinged discussions. Legislators are finally waking up to the reality that ou...