School Board votes to raise teacher pay for second straight year

For the second consecutive year the St. Charles Parish School Board voted in favor of raising pay rates of both current and future employees.

The board made it official mid-June at its monthly meeting, the move made with an eye on remaining competitive in retaining current employees and attracting future ones and in response to staffing shortages seen across the field of education.

Dr. Ken Oertling, St. Charles Parish Public Schools Superintendent, said the district’s employees have earned it.

“The School Board recognizes the dedication and hard work of the employees of St. Charles Parish Public Schools,” said Oertling. “Each and every employee, regardless of job title, makes a difference – either directly or indirectly – in the educational journey of students in St. Charles Parish. Our community and stakeholders demand excellence from the school system, and the School Board recognizes that employees should be compensated appropriately for those demands.”

Beginning with the 2023-24 fiscal year, all permanent, full-time school district employees will receive a four-percent pay raise in addition to a $2,000 pay raise. Permanent part-time employees, meanwhile, will receive a four-percent pay raise. The board also voted in favor of granting all employees a one-time $1,500 recruitment or retention payment that will be distributed in October.

The move raises the beginning teacher salary to $58,284.

It follows up on the board’s commitment to raising pay last year, when it approved a 10 percent pay raise for full-time and permanent part-time SCPPS employees. That placed the parish at the highest average teacher salary in the state at $64,842 with a starting teacher salary of $54,118. The School Board also approved a one-time payment for full-time and permanent part-time SCPPS employees of $1,500 that was issued in May 2022 and a loyalty/recruitment payment of $2,000 that was issued in October 2022.