WEBVTT
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We heard earlier in the week that there's a possibility
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to teachers in ebr can get a raise, a pretty
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significant raise. I want to talk about numbers and viability.
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We've got Patrick Martin from the school board in with us.
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How are you, sir, I'm great, Brian, thanks for having
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me us.
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Not glad to have you back, Glad to have you
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back on so like quite a week ago it was
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we ended that conversation with me saying we didn't talk
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more often.
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But here we are talking more often.
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The uh, I know Superintendent Call wants this, and I
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know that it's being looked at right now. And I
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was at so I was at the teacher leader summon
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on Tuesday and Wednesday I had doctor Brumley on and
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was talk with him about a statewide pay raise. And
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one of the things that he had to say that
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I found very interesting was that it's not just state individually.
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Individual school districts should be looking at this as well
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to see what they can do on a local level.
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Because when you talk about education funding, teachers are not
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state employees, correct, So why do we always look to
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the state for that answer?
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Right there?
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Correct?
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Which means shouldn't we be looking locally. So let's start
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off right there. Well, what cut this, Paul rolling?
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So, you know, for several years now, we've been giving
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kind of one time stipends. Recognizing that exact point the
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Superintendent Brumley made, we haven't East Batten Ruth's been trying
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to step up and.
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Give teachers better pay.
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We've been doing that as long as I've been on
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the board, but because the budgetary concerns, we've been giving
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one time stipend similar to what the state's done. And
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while that's great for the given year, that doesn't contribute
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to teachers retirement packages or anything like that, and doesn't
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give it the certainty that you need to really use
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better pay to attract and retain the best teachers out there.
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Okay, numbers wise, what can we afford?
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Well, that's the sixty four thousand dollars question. So so
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one of the things that the board has been looking
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at for several years now is that our reserves have
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been very high. We've been very conservative in our budgeting
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for for years ever since COVID to build up really
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solid reserves. And every year since I've been on the board,
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we've had the discussion, are we leaving money on the
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table that we should be putting into the classrooms to
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benefit our students. We don't have future needs, we have
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very significant current needs. So this budget makes an investment
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in our future by drawing down some of the reserves.
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The past few years we've held we've we've held back
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from making these one time stipends permanent because of concerns, well,
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what if next year? What if next year, what if
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the year after that? We've got real needs right now.
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And so what this budget does is makes an investment
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and says we know from historical trends, tax revenues are
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going to increase. And this will be covered talk.
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With Patrick Martin from the EBR School Board about the
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potential of the possibility of local teacher pay raises.
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Let's let's zoom out a little bit.
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And I know we want to talk to EBR, but
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if we're looking around to some of the other school
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districts around the state, are we seeing this a similar reaction,
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a similar proact, not reaction, proactivity to get out in
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front and take the you know, the bulb on the
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horns and the individual school districts.
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Look.
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Every district I think is always looking at where they
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stand competitively for teacher pay. Historically, for a number of
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years now, Baton Rouge has been not as highly ranked
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in terms of overall teacher pay compared to our neighboring districts.
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And so I think what we're focused on is kind
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of really addressing that and getting out in front of
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that in East Baton Rouge. I'm sure the other districts
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will will start looking at similar things.
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That was a set up question for me to say,
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there's a distaste for new taxes, and this doesn't involve
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a new tax.
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This does not involve a new tax. I think this
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involves the projections for the sustainability of this race involves
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of pretty straightforward assumption which we which has proven out
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historically that tax revenues from the same tax rates will
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continue to rise. In a couple of years, we're going
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to be having property of your reassessments and historically that
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almost always run me. Yeah no, but that means you're
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doing well your property. Your property values are going up, Bryan,
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and so historically that means that we get we have
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extra revenue coming in as results to that as well
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as just increased spending. The parish is doing better. So
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we've got increased revenues from that rate without without raising
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any biased tax rates.
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The yeah, because we've seen in other places it just
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it's i mean, living to Parish very very recently said
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no so and that's it's understandable. We're we're pretty tapped out.
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That's why I like, I kind of like this idea
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of you know, I always say going through the couch cushions,
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but like I kind of like this idea of finding
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every possible dime within the current budget.
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That's absolutely right, and and and this proposal isn't funded
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just buy uh spending out of the reserves or or
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hope for future growth. It also takes eleven million dollars
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roughly out of other budget categories facilities, plant maintenance, administrative
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and central office overhead costs. It cuts eleven million dollars
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out of other areas of the budget to help fund
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this raise.
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How is Superintendent Cold done on that front to kind
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of streamline things, cut down where it needs to be cut,
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where things need to be cut.
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He's he's been doing a great job, I think, focusing
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on getting money into the classrooms. One of the points
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he made at a recent meeting is and that this
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salary proposal is starting to address is for a long time,
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the way for an educational professional, Baton routhe to really
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get into a better pay scale was to move into administration,
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move out of the classroom, move out of the school
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building entirely, and to get a nice central office district job.
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The Superintendent's made it clear that's not going to be
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the path to really good pay in East bat and
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Ruth's pairs. If you want that good job, you're going
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to get back into the school building. Yeah, directly helping
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the kids.
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I think about how counterintuitive that is to say, if
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you want better pay, you got to get out of
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the classroom.
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Correct.
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That doesn't service students. Correct.
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No, He's made it very clear from from the executive
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directors who oversee regions of different high schools, elementary schools,
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middle schools, they've got to get back more into the
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school buildings, not spend their time in the central office.
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He's really been pushing this idea of get those folks,
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get all of our resource, human resources and otherwise back
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into the school buildings.
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I want to talk about this part of it as well,
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because we just went through getting pay raises for police. Yes,
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there's this balance here of being short staffed while we
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needed to pay people more. So, while we pay people
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more for the people we have here, what would that
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do to keep us staffed up, and then does it
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subsequently cost more?
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Yeah?
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Well, look, I mean we being understaffed is not the
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way you want to have savings, right, right, So the
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part of our problem has been every year since I've
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been on the board, we've started off the year without
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being fully staffed in terms of teachers in the classroom. Right,
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We've got substitutes and other folks going in, literacy coach
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coordinators and things like that having to step in to
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be teachers because we haven't been able to hire enough teachers.
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With an increased base pay, increasing the starting salary from
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fifty thousan to fifty six thousand dollars a year, then
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we hope that that will allow us to have an
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easier time recruiting those teachers during the spring and summer
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for the next year.
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You mentioned starting salary. I've got two questions on that,
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and then we're probably gonna have to get out after.
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That starting salary. What would that put us at competitively?
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Honestly, I haven't had a chance to do their research yet.
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I just got this budget a few days ago, and
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I haven't figured that out where we are comparatively.
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Yet or then the last one.
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The follow up on that would be when you look
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at starting salary, and this is something that else we
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started b ORPD. Was it made it? It made it
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a lot more advantageous to be a rookie than a veteran.
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That's a great question, Brian.
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Excuse me.
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One of the things that this budget does is it
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actually changes the overall scale of of our teacher pay.
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It kind of steepens it. Right, So before it was
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a very flat which means that every year, with seniority
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or greater education, you've got a very tiny little increase,
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but you capped out relatively close to what your starting
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the Bay starting pay was. With this, we steep in it,
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so there's more room for growth for salary growth as
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you get seniority, as you become a more highly effective
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teacher with better education and certification. So there's a lot
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more room for growth for teachers on this pay scale.
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This will be the last one before we get you
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out of here, and that greatly greatly appreciates your time.
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We're talking with Patrick Martin from NEB our school board
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is do we have a timeline set on getting all
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of this information in, wrapped up and done.
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Yeah, we're going through the budgeycle. We have to adopt
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the budget before July first, when the fiscal year starts.
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We really like to do it a little bit get
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that done a little bit before that. So we've got
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a budget workshop on June fourth. I think that people
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can participate in the more will be asking a lot
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of questions as superintendent at that time, and then we'll
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have the final vote at the regular school board meeting.
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Hopefully he is.
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Patrick Martin from the school board greatly greatly appreciate the time.
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Let's do this again soon. Absolutely,
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We heard earlier in the week that there's a possibility
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to teachers in ebr can get a raise, a pretty
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significant raise. I want to talk about numbers and viability.
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We've got Patrick Martin from the school board in with us.
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How are you, sir, I'm great, Brian, thanks for having
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me us.
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Not glad to have you back, Glad to have you
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back on so like quite a week ago it was
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we ended that conversation with me saying we didn't talk
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more often.
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But here we are talking more often.
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The uh, I know Superintendent Call wants this, and I
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know that it's being looked at right now. And I
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was at so I was at the teacher leader summon
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on Tuesday and Wednesday I had doctor Brumley on and
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was talk with him about a statewide pay raise. And
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one of the things that he had to say that
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I found very interesting was that it's not just state individually.
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Individual school districts should be looking at this as well
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to see what they can do on a local level.
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Because when you talk about education funding, teachers are not
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state employees, correct, So why do we always look to
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the state for that answer?
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Right there?
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Correct?
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Which means shouldn't we be looking locally. So let's start
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off right there. Well, what cut this, Paul rolling?
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So, you know, for several years now, we've been giving
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kind of one time stipends. Recognizing that exact point the
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Superintendent Brumley made, we haven't East Batten Ruth's been trying
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to step up and.
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Give teachers better pay.
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We've been doing that as long as I've been on
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the board, but because the budgetary concerns, we've been giving
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one time stipend similar to what the state's done. And
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while that's great for the given year, that doesn't contribute
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to teachers retirement packages or anything like that, and doesn't
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give it the certainty that you need to really use
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better pay to attract and retain the best teachers out there.
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Okay, numbers wise, what can we afford?
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Well, that's the sixty four thousand dollars question. So so
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one of the things that the board has been looking
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at for several years now is that our reserves have
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been very high. We've been very conservative in our budgeting
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for for years ever since COVID to build up really
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solid reserves. And every year since I've been on the board,
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we've had the discussion, are we leaving money on the
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table that we should be putting into the classrooms to
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benefit our students. We don't have future needs, we have
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very significant current needs. So this budget makes an investment
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in our future by drawing down some of the reserves.
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The past few years we've held we've we've held back
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from making these one time stipends permanent because of concerns, well,
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what if next year? What if next year, what if
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the year after that? We've got real needs right now.
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And so what this budget does is makes an investment
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and says we know from historical trends, tax revenues are
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going to increase. And this will be covered talk.
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With Patrick Martin from the EBR School Board about the
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potential of the possibility of local teacher pay raises.
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Let's let's zoom out a little bit.
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And I know we want to talk to EBR, but
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if we're looking around to some of the other school
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districts around the state, are we seeing this a similar reaction,
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a similar proact, not reaction, proactivity to get out in
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front and take the you know, the bulb on the
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horns and the individual school districts.
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Look.
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Every district I think is always looking at where they
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stand competitively for teacher pay. Historically, for a number of
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years now, Baton Rouge has been not as highly ranked
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in terms of overall teacher pay compared to our neighboring districts.
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And so I think what we're focused on is kind
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of really addressing that and getting out in front of
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that in East Baton Rouge. I'm sure the other districts
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will will start looking at similar things.
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That was a set up question for me to say,
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there's a distaste for new taxes, and this doesn't involve
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a new tax.
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This does not involve a new tax. I think this
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involves the projections for the sustainability of this race involves
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of pretty straightforward assumption which we which has proven out
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historically that tax revenues from the same tax rates will
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continue to rise. In a couple of years, we're going
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to be having property of your reassessments and historically that
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almost always run me. Yeah no, but that means you're
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doing well your property. Your property values are going up, Bryan,
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and so historically that means that we get we have
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extra revenue coming in as results to that as well
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as just increased spending. The parish is doing better. So
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we've got increased revenues from that rate without without raising
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any biased tax rates.
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The yeah, because we've seen in other places it just
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it's i mean, living to Parish very very recently said
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no so and that's it's understandable. We're we're pretty tapped out.
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That's why I like, I kind of like this idea
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of you know, I always say going through the couch cushions,
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but like I kind of like this idea of finding
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every possible dime within the current budget.
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That's absolutely right, and and and this proposal isn't funded
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just buy uh spending out of the reserves or or
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hope for future growth. It also takes eleven million dollars
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roughly out of other budget categories facilities, plant maintenance, administrative
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and central office overhead costs. It cuts eleven million dollars
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out of other areas of the budget to help fund
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this raise.
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How is Superintendent Cold done on that front to kind
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of streamline things, cut down where it needs to be cut,
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where things need to be cut.
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He's he's been doing a great job, I think, focusing
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on getting money into the classrooms. One of the points
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he made at a recent meeting is and that this
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salary proposal is starting to address is for a long time,
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the way for an educational professional, Baton routhe to really
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get into a better pay scale was to move into administration,
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move out of the classroom, move out of the school
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building entirely, and to get a nice central office district job.
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The Superintendent's made it clear that's not going to be
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the path to really good pay in East bat and
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Ruth's pairs. If you want that good job, you're going
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to get back into the school building. Yeah, directly helping
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the kids.
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I think about how counterintuitive that is to say, if
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you want better pay, you got to get out of
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the classroom.
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Correct.
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That doesn't service students. Correct.
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No, He's made it very clear from from the executive
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directors who oversee regions of different high schools, elementary schools,
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middle schools, they've got to get back more into the
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school buildings, not spend their time in the central office.
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He's really been pushing this idea of get those folks,
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get all of our resource, human resources and otherwise back
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into the school buildings.
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I want to talk about this part of it as well,
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because we just went through getting pay raises for police. Yes,
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there's this balance here of being short staffed while we
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needed to pay people more. So, while we pay people
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more for the people we have here, what would that
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do to keep us staffed up, and then does it
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subsequently cost more?
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Yeah?
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Well, look, I mean we being understaffed is not the
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way you want to have savings, right, right, So the
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part of our problem has been every year since I've
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been on the board, we've started off the year without
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being fully staffed in terms of teachers in the classroom. Right,
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We've got substitutes and other folks going in, literacy coach
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coordinators and things like that having to step in to
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be teachers because we haven't been able to hire enough teachers.
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With an increased base pay, increasing the starting salary from
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fifty thousan to fifty six thousand dollars a year, then
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we hope that that will allow us to have an
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easier time recruiting those teachers during the spring and summer
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for the next year.
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You mentioned starting salary. I've got two questions on that,
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and then we're probably gonna have to get out after.
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That starting salary. What would that put us at competitively?
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Honestly, I haven't had a chance to do their research yet.
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I just got this budget a few days ago, and
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I haven't figured that out where we are comparatively.
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Yet or then the last one.
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The follow up on that would be when you look
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at starting salary, and this is something that else we
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started b ORPD. Was it made it? It made it
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a lot more advantageous to be a rookie than a veteran.
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That's a great question, Brian.
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Excuse me.
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One of the things that this budget does is it
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actually changes the overall scale of of our teacher pay.
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It kind of steepens it. Right, So before it was
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a very flat which means that every year, with seniority
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or greater education, you've got a very tiny little increase,
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but you capped out relatively close to what your starting
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the Bay starting pay was. With this, we steep in it,
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so there's more room for growth for salary growth as
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you get seniority, as you become a more highly effective
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teacher with better education and certification. So there's a lot
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more room for growth for teachers on this pay scale.
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This will be the last one before we get you
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out of here, and that greatly greatly appreciates your time.
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We're talking with Patrick Martin from NEB our school board
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is do we have a timeline set on getting all
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of this information in, wrapped up and done.
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Yeah, we're going through the budgeycle. We have to adopt
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the budget before July first, when the fiscal year starts.
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We really like to do it a little bit get
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that done a little bit before that. So we've got
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a budget workshop on June fourth. I think that people
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can participate in the more will be asking a lot
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of questions as superintendent at that time, and then we'll
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have the final vote at the regular school board meeting.
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Hopefully he is.
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Patrick Martin from the school board greatly greatly appreciate the time.
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Let's do this again soon. Absolutely,
