News

LFT Reacts to the Governor's Budget

facebook_link_images_-_2023-02-17t132745.529.png

Today, Governor Edwards released his proposed budget for the upcoming year. This outlines his spending priorities for the state, but it is only the first step. The budget will now go through the legislative process, where legislators will make adjustments to reflect their own priorities. We are pleased to see that the Governor did include pay raises for teachers and school employees in his proposal, but ultimately this amount still falls short of what is needed.

The Governor’s budget calls for a $2,000 increase for certified school employees and $1,000 for support staff, a total investment of

Due to the outcry from hundreds of special education teachers, administrators, and parents the deadline to enter IEP data into the eSER system will be extended until the third week of January. This was announced by State Superintendent Cade Brumley during this morning's Senate Education Committee meeting. This is the second time that this deadline has been extended due to issues with the eSER system. MORE

The Special Education Reporting System was Down Today

facebook_link_images_-_2022-12-13t125537.090.png

In September, LDOE extended the deadline for inputing data into the eSER system until December 16th because of glitches in the rollout of the new system. It has been over two months since these issues were raised with LDOE, BESE, and the Senate Education Committee, but the problems have only gotten worse. Three days before the deadline to enter data, the entire system went down.

Don't let LDOE cover this up. Let the Senate Education Committee and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education know about your experience with the system.

Happy Holidays from your LFT Family!

As we approach the end of the year, with winter break right around the corner, we want to take a moment to thank you for your tireless devotion to your students. Louisiana’s teachers and school employees, our members, are some of the most hard working and selfless people on the planet, but you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your well-being to be an effective educator. That is why we come together to fight for dignity and professionalism for teachers and support staff in schools. We want to make sure that your love for your students isn’t overshadowed by the day-to-day minutia of tiresome meetings, paperwork, and uninspiring curriculum. You are a creative and dynamic educator and you should be treated as such. Thank you for coming together with your colleagues so that together we can fight for this profession and our students. Whether you are counting down the days until break, or you can’t believe how much you still need to do before the end of the year (or both), now is a time to look back at some of our collective highlights. MORE

November 2022: Flawed Accountability Proposal Fails to Pass!

facebook_link_images_-_2022-10-17t165855.559.png

On Thursday, November 10th the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education held a special meeting to finally vote on the long-debated changes to the high school accountability model. The proposed changes were adamantly opposed by superintendents, principals, teachers, school board members and other educational stakeholders, but supported by non-education special interest groups like the Pelican Institute, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.

In particular, the changes would have de-prioritized dual enrollment courses

On October 10, 2022, two representatives from the Louisiana Department of Education testified before the Louisiana Senate Education Committee. They were questioned about the issues teachers and districts faced with the rollout of the new electronic Special Education Reporting (eSER) system. Thomas Lambert, Assistant Superintendent Office of Assessments, Accountability, & Analytics and Meredith Jordan, Executive Director of Diverse Learners largely focused on issues of human error and "the deep learning curve." They said the issue was teachers who couldn't figure out the new system, even though it was "more intuitive and looks like a modern web solution." MORE

VOTE: November 8th

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8th Early Voting is Oct. 25 through Nov. 1 (excluding Sunday, Oct. 30) from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. STATE-WIDE ENDORSEMENTS U.S. Senate .......... Luke Mixon CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT POSITIONS No. l YES "Do you support an amendment to increase to 65 % the cap on the amount of monies in certain state funds that may be invested in stocks? MORE

BESE Update: October 2022

Tuesday’s committee meetings began with a public hearing to receive public recommendations regarding the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), which is the funding formula for Louisiana public schools. As expected, advocates from the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, the Louisiana School Boards Association, and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools testified in favor of increasing funding in level one of the MFP – which is the part of the formula that gives school districts the greatest flexibility in how they can use the additional funding. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) has continued to advocate for additional funding to be directed into level four of the MFP, which is the portion of the formula that funds teacher and school employee salaries. The only way to ensure that teachers and school employees receive a raise next year is for additional funding to go into level four. MORE

Tell BESE to Prioritize Raises for Teachers & School Employees

facebook_link_images_-_2022-10-05t145739.194.png

On Tuesday, October 11th, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will hear public recommendations regarding the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) for next year (2023-2024). As we do each year, LFT will advocate for the largest raise possible for teachers and school employees.

Despite pay increases in recent years, Louisiana teachers and school employees remain below the Southern Regional Average and National Average for pay. In fact, recent state-wide pay raises have been canceled out by increases to insurance premiums from the Office of Group Benefits (OGB). This has

facebook_link_images_-_2022-09-29t130340.688.png

After receiving emails from hundreds of LFT members, LDOE announced that they would give teachers until December 16^th to get all their information into the glitchy eSER system. Teachers are still required to get in all their IEPs by October 1^st, the only difference is that now you're allowed to submit them on paper, as long as you re-enter the information into the electronic system by December 16^th.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t help teachers who have already sunk hours into navigating a broken system and are still under enormous pressure to submit everything by the end of the week. LDOE’s