Jefferson Parish plans to return next year with new tax proposal for teacher pay

By Blake Paterson

Source: The Times-Picayune | Nola.com

December 12, 2024

After voters in Jefferson Parish narrowly rejected a tax proposal in Saturday’s election to fund pay raises for teachers and staff, school board members say they plan to regroup and return next year with another ballot proposition to raise the cash.

The 10.89-mill tax the Jefferson Parish School Board put on the Dec. 7 ballot would have generated an additional $48 million for the district annually over the next ten years. Officials planned to use the money to increase pay for certified teachers by $8,300 and offer the highest starting salary in the New Orleans area, a move they claimed was necessary to compete for talent with neighboring districts.

The measure failed by just over 300 votes — with only 12.8% of eligible voters turning out.

Getting voters to approve a double-digit millage increase in the midst of inflation and sky high property insurance rates was always going to be an uphill battle, observers said.

“With insurance, with mortgage rates, with inflation — it’s very tough to bring a new tax in front of people,” said Larry Dale, executive director of the Jefferson Business Council and a former longtime school board member.

With 47,000 students, Jefferson Parish is home to the largest and most diverse public school district in Louisiana. It was recently upgraded to a “B” rating by the state for the first time in almost a decade.

But the parish is facing demographic changes that could make it difficult to convince voters to approve additional funding for its public schools in the future. It’s population is aging faster than the state of Louisiana, meaning more of residents don’t have school-aged children. And many residents send their children to private or parochial schools.

The school board hired Gambel Communications on a $88,000 contract to educate voters on what the millage meant for property owners and how it would impact the school system, without advocating for the proposition one way or another. The teacher’s union also led a campaign to convince voters to support the tax, passing out flyers in carpool lanes and canvassing door-to-door.

But school board members say they need to do a better job in the future educating the public on why the money is needed.

“I put the blame squarely on us,” said board member Derrick Shepherd. “We didn’t convey to the public what we have done, why this is needed, and why there is no other alternative.”

The loss came as a shock to teachers, who expected the public to recognize the importance of providing competitive wages, said Sandra Hauer, president of the Jefferson Federation of Teachers.

Starting pay for teachers with a bachelor’s degree in Jefferson is $51,800, far lower than the $57,700 offered in Orleans Parish and the $60,000 offered in both St. Charles and Plaquemines parishes, making it difficult to recruit and retain educators.

As of last week, Jefferson Parish had 108 classrooms without a dedicated teacher, impacting the education of approximately 3,240 students, according to district spokesperson Kaela Lewis.

Now, district officials fear the teacher shortage could grow worse. Hauer said she knows of some teachers who were waiting on the results of the millage to decide whether to retire or change jobs.

The school board in June signed off on a 5% pay hike for teachers, which was possible thanks to cost-savings from closing and consolidating several schools.

But without raising taxes, the district can’t increase pay any further, Superintendent James Gray said in an interview Wednesday.

“We’ve pretty much tapped out all of our resources in-house,” Gray said. “Internally, we’ve exhausted all of our options.”

The new tax would have cost homeowners an additional $108.90 annually on each $100,000 of property value above the $75,000 homestead exemption. The owner of a homestead-exempt property valued at $320,000 would have paid an additional $266.81 per year.

Had it passed, Jefferson Parish property owners would have continued to pay fewer taxes toward the public school system than those living in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

The Bureau of Governmental Research, an independent nonprofit, recommended voters approve the new tax, noting that Jefferson Parish Schools, with its $625 million budget, had “demonstrated strong stewardship and accountability for public dollars.”

However, the millage didn’t receive an endorsement — or opposition, for that matter — from the parish’s two major business groups: the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and the Jefferson Business Council.

The members of the Jefferson Business Council, which includes several dozen of the most influential civic and business leaders in the parish, were split on the millage, so the group didn’t issue a position, Dale said. The political action committee tied to the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce also chose not to endorse or oppose the millage, according to chamber president Ruth Lawson.

On Election Day, only 43.7% of voters on the east bank supported the proposition, compared to 52.9% of voters on the West Bank, according to precinct data.

“My district is perhaps the district that could most afford it and they were very decisive in their opposition,” said board member Clay Moise, who represents Old Metairie, Jefferson, Elmwood and parts of Bonnabel. “I’m extraordinarily disappointed.”

Board members said they’ll look to Gray to recommend where to go from here.

“We just need to kind of regroup, look at the situation, analyze the data and then try to figure out what our next steps will be,” Gray said.

Fair Use Notice

This site occasionally reprints copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues and to highlight the accomplishments of our affiliates. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is available without profit. For more information go to: US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.