Calcasieu Parish School Board members on Tuesday approved a one-time pay supplement for just over 4,800 active employees, with teachers getting $1,450 and all other employees receiving $1,000.
The supplement will be included in the paychecks employees receive Nov. 30. According to a document from the School Board, the supplement will cost $8,064,026, along with benefit costs. Most of the supplement money comes from roughly $11 million in general fund reserves using restricted accumulated amounts from the 10-year, half-cent sales tax voters approved in May 2015.
Of the 4,811 employees set to get the supplement, 3,111 are on the teachers’ salary schedule, while 1,730 are not on the same schedule. Employees considered part time, working four hours or less, will receive a $500 supplement.
Board members rejected a motion by District 14 member Wayne Williams to increase the supplement for teachers to $2,500. He said the $1,450 amount was insufficient.
“The teachers are the ones in the trenches dealing with those children every day,” he said. “(They) have so much to do, and they’re not compensated properly.”
Williams spoke of the money the School Board collected from the sales tax voters approved last year to provide raises for teachers and school support workers, along with another half-cent tax voters renewed in 2014.
“We’ve collected a lot of tax money, and we can afford it,” he said.
Wilfred Bourne, the School Board’s chief financial officer, said the sales tax approved last year generated about $29 million, with roughly $18 million being paid out for teacher raises. He said that left $11 million in reserves at the end of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, which ended June 30.
Vicky Johnston, president of the Calcasieu Association of Educators, said last year’s supplement was $1,100 for teachers and $750 for other employees.
Superintendent Karl Bruchhaus said state revenue is “fully expected to go down” in a couple of years.
“Those same teachers that you want to give more money to might be standing here in front of you two years from now asking you to keep their jobs,” he said. “We may not have enough money, if the state cuts us, to fund our teachers. This is a supplement: this is not salary.”
District 13 member Billy Breaux said the panel should “be careful with what we’re spending.”
“We absolutely want to give more,” he said. “Can we afford to do it? Not necessarily.”
District 8 member Eric Tarver agreed, saying it would be unreasonable to “drain every penny we have in sales tax.”
“We want to give teachers everything we can, but we have to do it in a safe manner,” he said.
New member
School Board members appointed Sulphur resident Carl Vincent as the interim member for District 12. He replaces Charles “Chuck” Hansen, who resigned Oct. 11. Hansen, 54, was arrested in California on Sept. 30 on one count of indecent exposure, according to San Diego police.
Vincent was chosen over two other candidates, Renee Williams and Andrew Monceaux, both of Sulphur. Board members voted in two rounds, with Vincent receiving eight votes and Williams receiving six votes in the last round.
Vincent, a State Farm insurance agent, said he ran unsuccessfully for School Board twice. He said he has been involved with Partners in Education for more than 20 years.
“I’m here to help and do it to the best of my ability,” Vincent said.
District 7 board member Mack Dellafosse stressed the need to choose an interim member who has no intent of running for the position in the spring. Vincent told the board he has no plans to run.
District 11 member Chad Guidry spoke of Vincent’s passion for Sulphur schools.
“He has always been there for our schools,” Guidry said. “It doesn’t matter what it’s for.”
The board also set a date to fill the District 12 seat, with the primary election set for March 25 and the general election April 29. Qualifying will run Jan. 11-13.
from American Press: Your Best News And Advertising Source - Home http://ift.tt/2e22fmu
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment