BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Thousands of East Baton Rouge Parish teachers and support staff will soon see extra money in their paychecks after the school board approved a one-time stipend to match payments already promised by the state.
Certified teachers will receive a total of $4,000, while support staff will receive $2,000. The stipends will be paid in two installments, with the first going out Oct. 28 and the second on Nov. 17.
“They knew they were getting money from the state, but they were surprised to know they were getting money from the district as well,” said Angela Reams-Brown, President of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers & School Employees.
Teachers at the board meeting applauded the decision, saying it shows a commitment to recognizing their work.
“Teachers want to know that they are appreciated by the district, and one way to do that is to give them additional funding outside of their regular pay,” Brown said.
Even with the new stipends, teacher groups say more needs to be done to address permanent salary increases. Last summer, the district raised the starting teacher salary to $50,000 a year, but that figure still falls short of the Southern Regional Average.
“I mean, it’s going to take work, but once everybody comes together and gets on one accord, one page, it will start moving pretty fast,” Kendrick Smith, a teacher at Glen Oaks Middle, said.
Superintendent LaMont Cole acknowledged the stipends are only a temporary step while the district works on long-term solutions.
“I wish we could do more, and I want to do more, and we are desperately working with our team to determine and identify where we can possibly do more. And when we do, we want to try to make that permanent over an extended period of time,” Cole said.
Cole said he hopes the stipends give teachers a morale boost to finish out the semester as the district continues to evaluate its budget for possible permanent raises.
“We look forward to continuing to support, listen to, and learn from our teachers to do better and do more, and so we can make their jobs a little bit easier so they can be more effective for our students,” Cole said.
to report a typo. Please include the headline.
to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.