The irony is that at the precise time that Louisiana’s teachers have most demonstrated they deserve a pay raise they now are least likely to receive one, courtesy of the political left which in the past often backed that cause.
Leftists in the electorate did opposite of what they once preached when last month they voted down a constitutional amendment which would have made school districts grant the hike in perpetuity. Going against the wishes of teacher unions, leftist special interests managed to turn out enough electoral support to do this, although some distracted conservatives who lost sight of the forest for the trees aided them.
This happened even though more than ever teachers deserved a reward for the progress their students have made. In the past few years, Louisiana schools have sprinted up state educational rankings, which surely can be credited to improved teaching thus meriting higher future pay.
But, problematically, without the changes wrought by the amendment it becomes much more difficult to hand out that recurring prize. Generally, districts have underpaid their pension obligations, and constitutionally they must close part of the gap between now and early next decade. To do so requires taxpayers to spend a much higher proportion of an educator’s salary into the retirement fund kitty.
The amendment would have changed this by liquidating educational trust funds, which were formed by one-time bonuses and distribute a relatively small amount of money annually for education, to pay off as a one-time expense the unfunded accrued liability, while in exchange for having this burden lifted districts would have to set in stone pay raises at least equivalent to temporary stipends handed out each of the past two years. In other words, taxpayer resources would be diverted to covering these raises instead of settling a projected, now paid off, debt.
However, with that now off the table and given the budget’s composition, squeezing out about $200 million would prove difficult. Principally, health care costs continue to spiral upwards, an escalation put on steroids after the unwise decision a decade ago to expand Medicaid, and generally projections show continuing commitments already made projected future balancing challenging, with the added complication of a temporary move to redirect to capital outlay vehicle taxes to current expenditures reverting back in a couple of years.
Passing that amendment would have helped to alleviate this belt-tightening, as it seemed likely to stimulate economic development thus government revenues. Additionally, it was anticipated to back the new education savings account program, for which Republican Gov. Jeff Landry asked $50 million in the budget but which doesn’t include raises as local governments were supposed to have taken care of that with the amendment’s help.
If there are to be such wage hikes, the Republican legislative leadership plus Landry should offer exchanges that not only are good policy but also emphasize to Democrats their favored policies must bear the costs in the tradeoff. For example, the Legislature could eliminate the flawed earned income tax credit that costs the state annually about a quarter of the cost of the raise to pay for it (whereas Democrats want to double this tax break that discourages productivity in working).
Landry and majority party legislators must resist any rejiggering of his budget that cuts into important priorities such as the initial ESA funding (which looks to fall well short of demand) and increases to public safety spending in exchange for a teacher pay raise. They need to show Democrats there is a cost to their opposition to beneficial fiscal reform, which the left dislikes because it promises to reduce the size of government and to empower people by allowing them to keep more of what they earn (failure to pass it, in fact, results in a net tax increase on lower-income households). Hold the left’s feet to the fire by forcing it to accept less spending on its favored agenda items in exchange for the raise, and if its representatives prevent that, stay the course and tell the world the left sabotaged permanent higher pay for educators – again.
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