Teachers wonder how state calculated average salary

Mike Hasten

BATON ROUGE - If the average salary for teachers in Louisiana is more than $40,000, numerous teachers are wondering where those people work and how they can get jobs there, education leaders said Tuesday.

The state Education Estimating Conference, using figures obtained from the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, set $42,100 as the average teacher salary Monday but even officials of the two teacher unions question the accuracy of the estimate.

Tom Tate of the Louisiana Association of Educators says "setting an average is somewhat misleading. There are maybe 13 parishes where teachers can earn that or more but the vast majority are not even near that."

"It sounds good on paper" that Louisiana is near the Southern Regional Education Board average, he said. "But the truth is that it's not that good. There are some flaws in it."

Tate said the states larger parishes, where a majority of teachers are employed, pay better that the many smaller parishes that have fewer teachers. "When you get higher numbers in East Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Caddo and St. Tammany, it throws the average off," he said. It also makes it harder for poorer parishes to keep teachers.

"Half the teacher population of Opelousas can change as soon as Lafayette gives a pay raise," he said. "There's a constant flow between Iberia, St. Martin, St. Landry and Lafayette. Teachers say 'if I can drive a few miles and make four or five thousand more, I'll do it.' "

Teacher salaries vary widely within school systems. Figures gathered by the Department of Education for the 2005-06 school year - before this year's $1,500 annual pay raise - show the average salary for an elementary teacher in Bossier Parish is $39,087; Caddo is $40,853; Ouachita Parish is $38,206; Rapides Parish is $34,378; Avoyelles is $35,921; Lafayette Parish is $39,577; Iberia is $35,511; St. Landry Parish is $36,656 and $37,954 in St. Martin Parish.

Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, said the average teacher salary is higher because there are fewer young teachers who traditionally make lower wages. "We're looking at a number affected by a reduction of the number of teachers in the pool," Monaghan said.

In the 2004-05 school year, there were 48,476 classroom teachers but in 2005-06 school year, on which the salary is based, the count dropped by almost 5,000 teachers to 43,744, he said.

Despite hurricanes Katrina and Rita that displaced hundreds of teachers, Monaghan said he believes the decrease was mainly lower-paid beginning teachers, which inflated the average with higher-paid experienced teachers.

"Beginning teachers want to know how long they must work in order to earn $42,000," he said. "In most school systems, they will find the answer disappointing" because even the highest-paid teachers in 23 parishes don't make that much.

Monaghan said averages only cause problems because it presents a "theoretical situation" that most teachers don't find themselves in.

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