LAE Lays Out Teacher Raise Plan
by Claire Taylor - The Daily Advertiser (excerpt)

LAFAYETTE - All public school employees would get at least a $2,000 pay raise under a plan proposed by the Louisiana Association of Educators.

LAE President Joyce Haynes unveiled the group's 2008 legislative initiative at a local LAE meeting in Lafayette Thursday afternoon.

The plan will be proposed to the state Legislature when it meets in regular session beginning March 31.

In 2005, teachers received a pay raise bringing them to the southern regional average, Haynes said. But salaries are a "moving target," she said. When other southern states' teachers receive increases, Louisiana's teacher salaries again fall below the regional average.

The proposed $5,000 pay hike is designed also to encourage new teachers to earn master's degree in their first two years on the job, Haynes said. Currently, many new teachers skip the master's degree and opt for national certification, which guarantees them a $5,000 pay raise for 10 years, said Melinda Mangham, LAE legislative chairman.

They cannot enter the national certification process until they've taught at least three years.