School Board moves to put teacher pay sales tax back on ballot

CENTERVILLE -- The St. Mary School Board voted unanimously Thursday to seek State Bond Commission approval to put a new sales tax for teacher and staff raises on the March 20 ballot.

It's the board's second attempt to get the tax passed, this time as a 0.45% tax dedicated only to raises for teachers and support personnel.

If passed, the tax is expected to raise about $4 million a year, enough to give teachers a $3,000 annual raise, plus a $1,500-a-year bump for non-certified employees.

No discussion preceded the 9-0 vote in favor of the proposition. But board President Michael Taylor read from a prepared statement, saying the tax proposal announcement "has been long overdue.

"There is never a good time for a tax increase," he said, "but this board has an obligation to provide the best public education possible and that cannot be accomplished without providing competitive pay for our teachers. The simple fact is that our teachers are underpaid and they deserve a competitive salary."

Taylor cited these statistics:

--St. Mary public schools' share of tax collections is the seventh lowest among parishes or municipalities reported by the Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators.

--St. Mary's sales tax rate is 4%, except for Morgan City, where it's 4.3%. Even with the 0.45% tax, Taylor said, St. Mary's sales tax rate will be lower than the rates in Assumption (5%), Hourma/Terrebonne (5.5%), New Iberia (5%), Lafayette (5%) and Thibodaux (5%).

"Ironically, most people in St. Mary shop in Houma or Lafayette and pay their higher sales tax and support their teacher salaries," Taylor said.

--St. Mary's District Performance Score in the state accountability system has ranked among the best in Louisiana for seven straight years. St. Mary ranked 17th of 72 districts in 2019.

--But St. Mary ranks 42nd in teacher pay among the state's public school systems, according to the Louisiana Department of Education.

"This is a vast difference in the effectiveness of teachers to impact student achievement and the rate at which they are compensated," Taylor said.

The low pay makes it difficult to compete with systems such as Terrebonne, Iberia and Lafayette when recruiting teachers, he said.

"It is time that we pay them accordingly with a competitive salary," Taylor said.

The board may not have engaged in discussion about the tax proposal Thursday, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been batted around in public debate this year.

The board started in December with a 0.5% proposal that would have funded a technology fund in addition the staff and faculty raises. That provoked powerful opposition from state Sen. Bret Allain,
R-Franklin, who sits on the State Bond Commission. Allain opposed the technology fund provision and plans for a spring election, when turnout was likely to be low. The school administration had wanted to the tax in place in time to recruit teachers for the 2020-21 school year.

The board retooled the proposal, eliminating the technology fund and reducing the tax to 0l.45%.

Even then, the School Board needed two attempts to get the tax measure through the State Bond Commission and on a ballot, only to see the election postponed because of the pandemic. And when election time rolled around, the administration discovered what has been described as discrepancies in the ballot wording developed by the Secretary of State's Office.

The board pulled the tax from consideration and regrouped for the second attempt members launched Thursday night.

To pass the tax this time, the board will have to make a better case to voters than officials who have opposed the new levy because of its potential impact on St. Mary's economy.

Low energy prices had staggered the parish's economy for more than five years even before shutdowns targeting the spread of COVID-19 pushed the parish unemployment rate to near 15% in the spring. Joblessness here remained over 9% in September.

The proposal seems likely to face more opposition from Allain this time around.. At a recent St. Mary Chamber luncheon, Allain insisted that he believes teachers deserve more pay. But the senator said the timing is bad for a tax that could add more pain to an economy that is already hurting.

Also Thursday, many School Board employees and retirees came in for a little extra pre-holiday money.

The board learned it has received a rebate of nearly $296,000 from United Health Care, which administers health coverage for employees and retirees. Under the terms of the Affordable Care Act, United Health Care is required to pay benefits amounting to at least 85% of the premiums it receives from Louisiana customers or refund the difference, according to insurance consultant James Perez.

The School Board plans to make payments of $325-$350 to covered employees and retirees who meet certain criteria, including length of service during the previous year for current employees.