LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — In Louisiana, teachers are in high demand.
Reports show about 2,500 teacher vacancies exist across the state.
On Tuesday, the Lafayette Parish School System Board was scheduled to discuss stipends of $4K and $5K to help with teacher retention and recruitment.
The caveat for each proposal is that the candidate would have to work full-time in one of twelve pre-selected school classrooms.
Meanwhile, there’s House Bill 22 authored by State Representative Rick Edmonds (R) of Baton Rouge.
House Bill is designed to lure retired educators to teach again.
Retirees can 25% of what they once earned, but the proposed bill doubles that percentage to 50%.
“They can earn right now, 25% of their best three years. This bill would allow that to go to 50%,” Rep. Edmonds stated.
Lafayette Parish School System retired educator Juanita Hall approves of the idea.
Hall retired with 30 years in the education system.
“They may not say it but they need us to come back; and we know how much of an asset we can be to them,” Hall explained.
Hall has a few questions about the bill.
She says there’s a cap on how much a retiree can earn. Will the bill impact that cap or penalize retirees for exceeding the cap?
“Am I going back into the system at 30 years, am I going back at zero, or am I going to be salaried; but then what happens to my retirement? Is it put on hold? Is it frozen?,” Hall stated.
Hall believes the ‘Retirees Return to Work’ concept is positive and a move in the right direction.
But, before Hall pencils a few work dates onto her retirement calendar she plans to wait for more detailed information.
“He’s on a good road. It’s just all of sudden the road comes to a road block and that’s some of those road blocks,” Hall added.