You’d think Gov. John Bel Edwards would be a little better at reading the tea leaves.
After all, it was Louisiana’s teachers who first pushed him over the top to win the governor’s election over David Vitter in 2015.
And the teachers again provided needed support when he was challenged by businessman Eddie Rispone who had the backing of would-be kingmaker Lane Grigsby.
So, how did Edwards reward teachers for their support?
A raise of $1,000 per year in 2019. That’s $83 per month before taxes—and that was nearly four years into his first term before he got around to doing that much.
Yes, I know a lot of workers in Louisiana didn’t get raises of $83 per month but before jumping in with that argument, consider what teachers are expected to do (other than teach in a classroom) and how their salaries stack up with other states.
Last April, the NEA released FIGURES that showed Louisiana’s teachers (before that $1,000-per-year boost) still ranked 13th lowest in the nation.
And those same figures showed that the national average teacher salary, adjusted for inflation, had actually decreased 4.5 percent over the previous decade. Teachers were paid 21.4 percent less than similarly-education and experienced professionals, the NEA study revealed.
The national average teacher salary increased from $59,539 for the 2016-17 school year to $60,477 for 2017-18,
The average pay for teachers in Louisiana was $50,256.
So, what did Edwards to this year to try and bring teacher into alignment with other states when he submitted his proposed budget for next year?
Crickets chirping. Nothing. Nada. Nil. Zip.
And his wife was a teacher before he was elected governor. His daughter is a school counselor.
As might be expected, teachers took umbrage at the governor’s slight—as well they should have.
An acquaintance offered a defense of sorts for the governor’s omission. “The Republican legislature wouldn’t approve another teacher pay raise anyway, so he just didn’t brother.”
My response to that is, “So what? Put it in the budget and put the onus on the legislators. Let them explain why Louisiana cannot support its teachers. There are, by the way, part-time legislators who pull down more than starting teachers in this state.
Gov. Edwards did finally reverse himself, but only after teachers bristled publicly. But you’d never know he truly felt their wrath when he offered up a $500 per year raise. That’s $42 per month, a little more than a dollar a day. You can’t even go to McDonald’s with that.
If Edwards is considering a run at John Kennedy’s Senate seat, he’d do well to remember the teachers.
And don’t give me that worn-out B.S. about teachers only working nine months a year. That’s pure bunk. No sooner than the school year is over than teachers must turn their attention to the coming year by preparing lesson plans, cleaning out classrooms, re-stocking supplies and attending meetings.
Teachers endure problems we can only imagine in our jobs. As a news reporter, I would get irate calls from subjects of my stories but try sitting across the desk from an arrogant parent who won’t accept the explanation that their kid, who never received discipline or help with his homework at home, is disruptive, a problem student and deserved that poor grade or suspension.
Teachers must watch for signs their students are abused at home. Ever had to do that in your job? Ever had to look at a bruised child and asked him or her to tell you what happened? It’s a pretty depressing responsibility and can leave teachers sickened with nightmares.
Sometimes teachers are called on to stop a bullet to save a child—and they do it, Alex Jones’s claims to the contrary notwithstanding.
Test papers are taken home by teachers who, while the rest of the family is watching American Idol, must plod through 25 or 30 test papers for grading. They sacrifice time with their own families so they can devote time to their jobs.
Teachers dip into their own pocketbooks to purchase materials for their classrooms. And believe me, that isn’t cheap. I knew a teacher in Lincoln Parish who bought shoes for a child who had none.
They are saddled with tons of paperwork other than test grading and they are burdened with bureaucratic requirements in preparation for standardized testing and if the kids don’t do well, it’s the teacher who bears the brunt of evaluations by politicians who decide who is and who isn’t a good teacher—without ever meeting the teacher or sitting in her classroom.
Teachers must step in to stop fights and God help her if she’s a little too physical with the kids. Might as well go ahead and retain legal counsel.
And sometimes a teacher spots potential in a kid no one else has seen. They take the student under their wing, nurture his/her talents, and develop a kid everyone thought had no future into a productive citizen. On that point, I speak from experience. Thank you, Mrs. Garrett, Miss Lewis, Miss Hinton, Mr. Peoples and Mr. Ryland. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Teachers deserve better, Gov. Edwards. As a friend suggested, “Go big or go home.”
You gave state police enormous pay raises. You gave your cabinet members substantial increases.
Teachers, cafeteria workers and other school employees deserve nothing less than the same consideration you’ve given state troopers and cabinet members.
You’re beginning to look a lot like Bobby Jindal.
Louisiana Voice 
As a former teacher, you comments were on target and eloquent!!
Glad to see you back on point Tom. Your points made here and on the Landry story are Point On! , regardless of where someone sits on the political side of the issue .
Wow! You hit the nail on the head about teachers. I have two adult children who are teachers, with one of them here in Louisiana. It is so bad that the one in Louisiana is considering retiring early. She only has 13 years in the profession and won’t get a pension because of it, but it has become so dangerous she says it is time to go. She says teachers these day should get hazard pay for the dangerous work they have to do week after week. She is a M.A.E. teacher, that is a special ed teacher that works with the violent students. She has been scratched, bitten, punched, kicked, slapped, and spit upon. She has come home with black eyes, bruises all up and down her arms and legs. The students have threatened to kill her and her family, her dog, smash her car’s windows, etc. These are elementary students she works with, not teenagers. I blame it on the parents, and the legislators. And in the past few years, it is not only the MAE teachers that have seen an uptick in student violence. The General Education teachers have also had to deal with violence in their classroom from the students.
As for the extra work with no pay, yep, she works another 15-25 hours per week with no pay (sometimes more than 15-25 hours a week). This is due to all the paperwork she has to file each week (I blame that also on the legislators who have no clue how children learn so instead they make the teachers fill out form after form after form to justify the legislators’ pretense they want to do something good for education – they don’t). Whether it is a special ed report or lesson plans or other reports to file, she has no time at home for personal stuff, like cleaning the floors, going to the grocery store, buying her son clothes for school, cooking for her family, petting her dog, or gardening.
Not only that, but to make ends meet, she had to get a second job, a part-time job. And she is not the only teacher that is doing that. Unless you are married with a dual income, you have to have a second job when you are a teacher. The other teachers who also have to have a second job are single without a dual income. A teacher’s salary in Louisiana just does not help ends meet. And these are people who are working with our children’s futures. You would think they would be more respected, more appreciated, and given at least enough of a wage to make ends meet. Unlike our legislators who are not working for our children’s futures. Why should they get more money than a teacher?
As for that second job, she could only do part-time because she needs the time at home to finish her school work she is not allowed to work on during school hours. So she puts in more than 80 hours a week, but only gets paid for 35 hours by her school, and 20 hours by her second job. That leaves about 25 more hours she has to work for nothing. Those 25 hours are a part-time job. And it is one she has to do without being reimbursed for her time.
She was run so ragged by the school administrators that she collapsed back in August 2019, 3 weeks after school started, and had to be rushed to the hospital. Severe hydration, though at the time, she was seizing up and she had died (she turned blue and stopped breathing). We thought it was a heart attack. Luckily, the fire department was just down the street and they were able to revive her. Many times at school she just cannot eat her lunch or drink her water due to her students’ erratic behavior. So, some days, she goes all day without eating. And she doesn’t get breaks like she is supposed to get.
And you’re right, she is always buying supplies for her students. She gets some money from the PTA each year at the beginning (and all the teachers at her school are very happy they have an active PTA that helps them out financially – not every school is so lucky to have an active PTA), but that doesn’t go very far, and so throughout the year, she buys school supplies for her students. She has even bought clothes for some of her students. And she is not reimbursed.
As for summers off, well, that’s a laugh. Just like you said, she has to prepare for the following year, she also has to attend mandatory meetings and workshops throughout the summer, and she gets to go back to school after only having 6 weeks off. If she had a normal job, a 9 to 5 office job, I get that she wouldn’t get summers off, but because a teaching job is so intense, she needs some time off to recuperate. As do the other teachers. Many are complaining about their work environment. It has become a dangerous place, not because of possible school shootings, but because of the way parents don’t raise their children any longer. These students are rude, belligerent, nasty-mouthed, and resort to violence at the drop of a pin. The teachers try to teach them manners, social nuances, social behaviors, but then they go home and unlearn everything the teachers have done because of the parents’ today. One of the problems today with being a teacher is that everyone wants to blame the teachers for the state of the schools. No one blames the parents, the school administrators, the legislators. Just the teachers. The burden is on them not only to teach little Johnny and Judy how to read and write, but how to behave. They now have to raise the children. That leaves very little time to teach them. Teaching them to read and write is a teacher’s responsibility and they are not being allowed to do that. Raising children is a parent responsibility and they are reneging on it big time.
As for our governor, I was not surprised he chose to do nothing for the teachers. Oh yes, they got a $1000.00 pay raise, but that was after not getting one for 6 years. Meanwhile, all other costs have gone up and up and up. JBE promised he would fight for teachers the first time he was elected. And he didn’t. And yet, so many teachers decided to vote for him again. They were afraid of the charter school idea that the other candidates were pushing. The example of charter schools down here is in New Orleans. We have seen how the quality of education went down with them. They also do not support teachers. And the pay is less. Teachers already do not make enough money, so having your parish go charter would be difficult for many of them. Maybe charter schools work in other states, but down here in Louisiana, they don’t. And so the teachers, so afraid of having to have their parish turn into another Orleans Parish, they voted once again for JBE. It’s a shame really. Like you said, his wife was a teacher, so the teachers once again thought that he would understand their plight and fight for them. JBE showed that he was a liar. He was given a second chance by the teachers, and he blew it. I doubt the teachers will give him a 3rd chance for any political office next time he decides to run.
Amen. And amen. My father was an educator, and my observation is that teachers are born, not made. If any vocation should have a special place in society, it’s teachers – none of us could read this without them. I’ve never understood why the K-12 teaching profession is so poorly compensated and held in low regard – unless of course, it’s the fact that historically, teachers are primarily female. Ah, there’s the rub! It’s well past time to elevate our educators in both esteem and compensation. It would behoove the governor to be in the vanguard of that movement.
Well spoken!!
The end of John Bel’s political career is near. Never shortchange the teachers. Ask Buddy Roemer how that worked out.
Buddy Roemer did not “shortchange” the teachers. He proposed and the legislature funded over $600 million in raises for them. What they didn’t like was the fact he wanted to implement a better method for evaluating performance.
Buddy Roemer absolutely pissed off the teachers with his teacher evaluation plan. He knew better than them and wouldn’t listen. But thanks for TRYING to correct me 🙄
Hi Mr. Tom,
Thanks for this GREAT ARTICLE. I was so angry when I saw the small amount that he would be giving to our DEDICATED TEACHERS. Shame on him! I DID NOT VOTE FOR HIM THIS TIME BUT I DID VOTE FOR HIM LAST TIME. MY BAD!!!!
I already sent an email to the reporter in Baton Rouge about this. I am so angry that I mentioned a RECALL OF HIS ELECTION WIN. I am really serious about this. I am sick and tired of corrupt politicians promising what they already know that they will NEVER DELIVER AFTER THE ELECTION IS OVER.
So much for his famous HONOR CODE!!!
Thanks once again for doing what you do best, EXPOSING THE TRUTH,
Always grateful, Barb
P.S. Hope you and your family are doing well. GOD BLESS OUR DEDICATED TEACHERS ALL OVER THIS STATE AND COUNTRY. WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT THEM?
Yup, as Barb comments, a recall is in order. If he is going to let the legislature call the shots and not even put a proper raise into the budget, then who needs him? As long as the political and corporate cronies run this state, the corporations will never pay the taxes they should to properly support public services like schools and colleges. The corporate executives and politicians are cleaning up at the expense of everyone else who is simply trying to have a reasonable life for their families. It’s time to get rid of those takers and put power back into the hands of the makers.
I agree that we teachers deserve more, but if Rispone was Governor, there would be no raise and our state pensions would be on the chopping block.
If rispone were governor, with a republican majority in the legislature, all of state government would be jeopardized. It would be jindal 2.0, and would go down faster, having the head start from the first jindal juggernaut from which we have only partially recovered. JBE is imperfect and in fact, disappointing right now, but consider the alternatives. And a recall effort is virtually impossible given the requirements, so better to hold the incumbent accountable than to waste time and energy on a losing strategy. Raise our voices to the governor’s office and tell him what we think, want and need.
Get active and take part in the body politic. Put your money where your mouth is and do something about the morass. I ran for the legislature last year and lost, but I tried. This year I qualified for the Democratic State Central Committee and was unopposed. I plan to join a lot of others who are committed to improving life in this state through the political process. Let me know your thoughts and the changes you want to see in the Democratic Party, to better represent you.
Jerel M. Giarrusso