A bumper sticker spotted years ago pretty much says it all: “If you can read this, thank a teacher.”
Each and every one of us – whether you’re a high school dropout or a Ph.D. in quantum physics – owes a debt of gratitude to teachers. We all are called on to read and write and to perform basic math throughout our lives and no matter how resistant one may have been to learning, at least something did sink in.
We live in a world where it’s virtually impossible to function in society without knowing the rudiments of communication and calculation. You may not be a decent speller or know proper grammar and those algebra lessons are long forgotten but you know enough to get by and that knowledge is courtesy of an overworked, underpaid, often exasperated teacher.
Which brings me to my second point: I don’t like paying taxes any more than the next guy.
But the truth is, if you want something, anything, there’s generally a price.
You want police and fire protection? Garbage pickup? Gas and electricity? Streets? Sewerage? Well, there’s a cost to those services. Someone is dependent on a paycheck to keep those things coming your way and taxes are the only way to pay for them.
Even Homeowners Associations have self-imposed taxes (but they’re called “fees” instead) that the homeowners are assessed.
Same for teachers. Your kids may be up and out of the house, moved away, or maybe you don’t even have kids at all, so why should you be concerned about teachers? Well, you may never need the fire department, either, and you may never have to call the police to help you against a home invasion. But it’s nice to know they are or were there when needed.
Teachers are essential to our general well-being. Yet, they are the most unappreciated, most put-upon, most criticized and most underpaid segment of our society. Why is that? Why do we as a society put such a premium on someone who can shoot a basket or throw a pass while snubbing the most important contribution to the economic, scientific, and artistic progress and well-being of us as a civilization?
It defies logic that Livingston Parish, one of the better education systems in the state, is losing teachers by the droves to places like Central which pays its teachers thousands of dollars more.
On Saturday, March 25, voters in Livingston Parish will have a chance to go to the polls and vote on a 1 percent sales and use tax dedicated exclusively to implementing teacher pay raises in the parish.
The turnout will be miniscule, I’m sure, with a concentration of anti-votes. One of those anti-votes will no doubt be cast by, of all people, a current member of the Livingston Parish School Board. That mystifies me. If a member of the school board cannot bring herself to support our schools and teachers, she should get the hell off the board.
Another opponent has posted on social media that the school board already has the money needed to fund pay raises. That is so much bunk. Yes, there is money but only enough to provide a token pay increase of a few hundred dollars per year. That would not make Livingston Parish competitive. This tax is essential to keep our system viable.
The school board is promoting the tax with town hall meetings in an effort to generate support. But the one thing that escapes me is how little State Sen. Rogers Pope has been utilized to endorse the measure. I know he would throw his efforts behind the tax if only he were asked to do so.
Pope, a former Livingston Parish School Superintendent, went on to be elected by wide margins first to the Louisiana House of Representatives and then to the State Senate. You’d think a man of his credentials would’ve been scooped up to serve on the education committees of the respective chambers. But noooo, that would just make too much sense.
Now, after representing his district admirably and honestly, Pope is hanging it up. His retirement will be Livingston Parish’s loss, make no mistake. He has spent his entire tenure in the legislature supporting the state’s teachers and public education despite being consistently passed over for a seat on the education committee of either chamber. Maybe his support of public education went against the grain of the Republican legislature (even though he is a Republican).
But back to Saturday’s election. It is critical that this tax pass so that Livingston Parish may become competitive with surrounding systems and so that it may retain our more outstanding teachers.
Taxes are unpopular. I know that. But they are necessary. It makes no sense to deprive teachers of a living wage while the state continues to give generous tax breaks to industries and businesses who all too often fail to live up to the rosy employment promises it makes in order to get those breaks.
But we can do something on the local level – something good and decent – to reward the heroes of any society, our teachers. To my fellow Livingston Parish residents: Please vote yes on March 25.
Louisiana Voice 
It’s not this Saturday but the 25th
You are correct. My apologies and correction made.
Have you gone over to the Dark Side? Surely you understand the injustice of the Sales Tax. But if you’ve forgotten, allow me to refresh your understanding.
How does sales tax affect the poor?
The net effect: the poor pay a significantly higher percentage of their income on sales taxes than the top 1%. That’s because the poor typically spend about three-quarters of their income on items that are subject to sales tax, whereas top earners only end up spending about a sixth of their income on taxable items.
A Property Tax is a far more equitable tax. So rather than impose a Sales Tax, increase Real Property Tax millage and dedicate it to teacher pay.
So make the property owners, whether they have kids of not, pay for school for the kids of those who don’t own property. That’s the definition of “equity.”
I take it then that you never went to school? Have you ever called 911 or the fire department? You’re paying for those services whether you ever use them or not. I also assume you have an outdoor toilet and don’t need a sewer system. No car, obviously, so no need for public streets.
Do you supervise employees? Or do you work with others? Do you want your subordinates and co-workers to be proficient and productive so you don’t have to do their work for them? An education helps, you know. In fact, a good education benefits just about everyone in the grand scheme of things.
Your opposition to paying property taxes to support school teachers even if you don’t have children is the definition of selfishness.
Instead of throwing darts, why don’t you suggest a solution? Let’s hear your method of supporting teachers – unless, of course, you are a recluse who doesn’t support anything that benefits society – or someone who just hasn’t thought things through, preferring the kneejerk response to every proposal.
I just love those who oppose every approach to a problem without ever offering an alternative. Kinda like the Republican official position.
Let’s take that one step farther. Why should a household that sends all of their children to a private school or parochial school have to pay a portion of their property taxes that are dedicated to public schools? What’s the difference?
Tom,
Yours is an excellent and thoughtful rebuttal to Mr. Smith.
Working class people are already taxed to death. Teachers pay raise should come from a different part of the budget, money that is already there that is being used on some meaningless pet project.
You obviously have all the answers so why don’t you enlighten us as to what part of the budget you’re talking about. Do you even have a clue as to how much of their own money teachers have to spend on classroom resources to teach kids because schools are so underfunded?
I personally know of an individual who purchased computers for a computer class that didn’t have computers. His generosity and concern for education served that school well – and he wasn’t even from the this state.
You could learn a lesson from such gestures, my friend.
Daniel, can you name one meaningless pet project? A “meaningless pet project” probably has a dedicated funding source, if so, those monies cannot be diverted to something else. If it doesn’t have a dedicated source of revenue, then it may be funded by one-time monies. Under sound budgeting practices, you should never use one-time monies for a recurring expense, such as teachers’ salaries.
Jindal was a tool. Edmonson was not perfect, but not evil. Reeves, (well, we need a conversation). And Davis is due his own conversation
(Not sure what LSP has to do with this post.)
I am fascinated with your blog Mr.Tom. Please, explain to me how enforcing already tax paying , free citizens, (non welfare) poor people in the state of Louisiana will ever turn triumph?
As one reader correctly pointed out, sales taxes are the most repressive and most unfair to the low-income bracket. A property tax would indeed be fairer, but the sales tax is the issue that’s currently on the table and I’m for just about anything that helps teachers.
Livingston Parish Public Schools have a $400 Million budget. That’s not a typo. We pay 10.5% tax on every purchase in Livingston Parish, which is absolutely outrageous. When is enough, enough?
Tom, we know your daughter is a school principal and she is commended for that. I’m just running out of money, as are many others! This is a NO vote for me!
I understand, Robert. I pay the same taxes you do because I also live in Livingston. But I’m not supporting teachers solely because of my daughters; I’m supporting teachers because my own teachers took an interest in me, a sub-par, underachieving student who they felt had potential for something better. The pushed, prodded, and otherwise encouraged me to greater accomplishments and I (eventually) became the first member of my immediate family to obtain a college degree.
Those teachers literally saved my life.
It would appear that the voters have spoken with a resounding “no.” The School Board is going to have to do some soul searching on how the voters’ reception to the proposition could be this bad if the voters had confidence in their performances.