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Lafayette Parish superintendent outlines rezoning, pre-K conversion and $50,000 starting teacher pay plan
Summary
At the Broussard City Council meeting Jan. 29, Lafayette Parish Schools Superintendent Francis Touchette described proposed rezoning, a plan to convert Katharine Drexel to an east-side pre-K site and a proposal to raise starting teacher pay to $50,000, while saying the district is reviewing a $670,000,000 budget for cuts and targeted increases.
Francis Touchette, superintendent of Lafayette Parish Schools, updated the City of Broussard Council on student rezoning, a pre‑K conversion and teacher pay proposals during the council meeting on Jan. 29, 2025.
Touchette said the district is implementing recommendations from a recent district optimization review and will rezone students from L.J. Alamo to Broussard Middle and move some students from Katharine Drexel to Ernest Gallet, while converting Katharine Drexel into a pre‑K site serving the east side of the river.
Why it matters: the changes will affect which schools local children attend and how early‑education capacity is organized on the east side of the parish. The pay proposal would alter starting teacher compensation and could affect recruitment and retention in local schools.
Touchette told the council the district "went through a district optimization" and is acting on some of the 14 recommendations from that review. He said, "We will be rezoning students from LJ Alamo to Broussard Middle" and that "Katharine Drexel will be a pre k site that will be for everything on the East side of the river."
On school capacity, Touchette said Broussard Middle has room to absorb students the district plans to rezone there. He said plans that would have created a career center at Como were not adopted by the board, which affected how boundaries would have been drawn.
Touchette described the district's budget review: "I am scrubbing the budget, and I'm looking at every line item in a $670,000,000 budget. We will cut where we need to cut." He said district leaders will assess whether spending yields "a return for our investment" and will reduce or reallocate funds where it does not.
On teacher pay, Touchette said the district intends to raise starting teacher salaries to $50,000 from a current starting pay of $47,600. "We will raise starting teacher salaries to $50,000. We're at 47,600 right now," he said, adding the district plans to use incentivized pay for classroom teachers in core subjects and to tie some pay to student results: "we're gonna pay them. So we're gonna pay them their salary for certain courses, ELA, math, science, and social studies, kindergarten 1 through 5."
A councilmember praised the plan during discussion, saying teachers’ work extends beyond classroom hours and that higher pay should improve morale and performance.
Touchette also thanked local public safety staff and said the district has school resource officers in every school. He said the police department has been "overly, overly helpful" and praised coordination with the chief and staff on school safety.
The superintendent invited questions and said the district will communicate directly with parents about rezoning, new principals and transition plans. He acknowledged uncertainty about pre‑K enrollment, saying converting Katharine Drexel to pre‑K makes it harder to predict how many parents will enroll but that the district will "push" to fill the site and will renovate facilities to make the site presentable.
Ending: Touchette said he will continue to brief local officials approximately three times a year and take questions from the council as the district finalizes rezoning and budget decisions.
