Harlan Kirgan
St. Landry Parish public school certified employees would get a $3,000 a year raise and non-certified employees would get a $2,000 annual raise if two tax proposals pass.
The School Board’s Finance Committee approved the pay raise amounts, which were recommended Monday by Superintendent Patrick Jenkins.
The School Board has called an election on March 24 on two tax proposals. One proposal is a 11.3 mill, 10-year tax to pay for salary increases. The other is a 12.1 mill, 20-year tax to fund a $99 million bond for capital improvements.
Both proposals have to pass.
Jenkins said, “We are looking at salaries in the general area whether it is Evangeline, Acadia, Lafayette, Iberia, et cetera and also looking at salaries of our support people in the general area.”
The starting salary for a teacher in St. Landry Parish is $38,000 a year compared to $39,500 in Evangeline Parish.
Jenkins added that Evangeline Parish educators receive a 13th check of about $4,000.
“When you look at the bump they get every single year it makes a tremendous difference for us,” he said.
St. Landry Parish’s support employees are “...on a even playing field, even slightly above,” he said. A $2,000 raise would keep them even with pay in surrounding parishes, he said.
Jenkins has yet to recommend the building plan that would be funded by the tax.
After a meeting at LSUE on Dec. 13, Jenkins said he expects to have a plan in place before the March vote.
“We are getting closer. Probably we need two or three more of these in January. I think we are going to have something very definite in February,” Jenkins said.
The goal is to improve the school academically as well as its facilities, he said.
The school district is faced with aging building. The main structure at Arnaudville Elementary was built in 1922.
Main building dates for Eunice schools are: Central Middle, 1955; East Elementary, $1966; Eunice Career and Technical Center, 1950; Eunice High School, 1966; Eunice Junior High School, 1984; Glendale Elementary, 1960; and Highland Elementary, 1969.
Jenkins said St. Landry Parish current millage 20.52 ranks 64th among 69 school districts in the state. The average millage rate for school districts in the state is 45 mills.