Lafourche nurses, paraprofessionals get pay hike

Licensed practical nurses and the paraprofessionals in the Lafourche Parish school system will see a salary increase in their next paycheck.

On their Nov. 17 checks, the paraprofessionals’ salary schedule will increase from more than $13,000 to a little over $15,000, annually. The pay increase will cost the school board an estimated $566,000 for the 321 paraprofessionals working in the school system.

Business Manager Don Gaudet said Superintendent Jo Ann Matthews recommended that the school board approve a salary increase of $1,500 yearly for paraprofessionals from the school board general fund. The pay hike will be retroactive to the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year.

Having changed the criteria for hired paraprofessionals to include a more in-depth background in education, the school board agreed their pay should reflect it. The finance committee and the school board members approved the recommendation unanimously, Gaudet said.

“The in-class assistants don’t receive as many raises from the state and local government as teachers and administrators,” said Floyd Benoit, a member of the Salary Review Committee that first reviewed the pay hike proposal. “The salary committee is trying to adjust inadequacies from over the years that have fell by the wayside.”

Matthews recommended a $2,500 increase LPNs, which is funded by the Medicaid Fund. She said the increase is also retroactive to the beginning of the school year. The finance committee and the school board approved this recommendation unanimously.

According to Gaudet, the licensed nurses’ salary schedule increased from over $19,000 to more than $25,500 annually. The school board’s approximate cost for the 15 LPNs hired in the parish school system is $44,000, he said.

“The school system has two kinds of nurses: LPNs and registered nurses (RNs),” the business manager said. “If we want licensed health care professionals to work for the school system, we need to pay them more money.”

Another group of school employees will also get a big check in November. The school board approved a one-time sales distribution of 2.5 percent or $625 to all employees who are TAT (temporary authority to teach) teachers hired prior to Oct. 1 and are still employed at the beginning of the second semester and full-time employees hired prior to Oct. 1. Gaudet said this totals $2.3 million, with the board expending a total of $2.9 million for its employees. Overall, the board has spent at least $9.8 million on salary schedule increases this year, he said.

The superintendent said the checks were be available Nov. 13.

In August, the Lafourche Parish School Board approved a 6 percent salary increase for teachers and principals. “This effort was to improve salaries across the board,” said Matthews said.

The pay hike included state mandated raises of $1,500 for certified staff and $500 for support personnel. She said the total percentage given was, on average, 11 percent.

“Please keep in mind we had to supplement the state portion of the raise, and the board allocated over $7 million to cover the cost,” the superintendent said.

“I am sure that everyone will put these funds to good use, but keep in mind that we were able to increase salaries because of our sales tax collection,” Matthews said. “I encourage everyone to shop locally and support our parish businesses.”

Sophia Ruffin can be reached at (985) 876-3008 or sophia@tri-parishtimes.com.