Caddo board approves 2025–26 budget after heated public calls for teacher raises

The Caddo Parish School Board on June 17 approved its consolidated 2025–26 annual budget, despite public testimony pressing the district to prioritize a permanent pay increase for teachers and school employees.

Public speakers at the meeting said morale and retention suffer without a raise. "Words are no longer enough. The time for action is now," Jordan Thomas, president of Red River United, told the board during the budget public hearing. Carlos McDaniel, president of the Caddo Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel, said the district has not provided a local pay raise since the 2017–18 fiscal year and urged the board to act: "We don't want the moon. We want fairness, respect."

The board adopted the budget after a staff presentation and public comment. Superintendent Keith Burton and finance staff described several adjustments behind the figures, including a two-tiered redistribution of federal Title I funds. Burton said staff lowered the cutoff for Title I eligibility to bring more schools into the program and used a staggered per‑pupil allotment so very high‑poverty schools would not lose essential funding. "We wanted to make sure everything that was essential for them to move students was going to be able to be funded with the allocation we gave them," Burton said.

Board members debated tradeoffs during a broad discussion that ranged from classified and certified pay schedules to program cuts. Board members and staff confirmed cuts or reductions to some outside partner funding for 2025–26 and said they would revisit some allocations in next year's budget cycle if enrollment or revenues change. Chief among the targeted reductions mentioned at the meeting was a $30,000 reduction to county 4‑H support; board members and staff said they would try to restore that funding in the next budget year if possible.

Several board members and speakers pressed staff about how the district ended up with pay disparities on its salary schedule; staff and the board attorney traced the current structure to changes made after Act 1 of 2012, when the state shifted compensation frameworks to include demand and performance components. Superintendent Burton said the district will continue to explore options to increase compensation and that staff were preparing plans to propose additional compensation as soon as feasible.

Board action: The consolidated 2025–26 annual budget was moved by board member Miss Yates, seconded by Miss Veil, and approved by the board at the June 17 meeting. The motion record shows the item was put to a public vote and passed (vote tally not recorded in the public live transcript). The budget vote was separate from ongoing personnel and policy discussions.

The district will implement the new Title I distribution and other budget changes for the coming school year; staff said they will work with impacted principals to align personnel and program allocations to school needs. Board members and union representatives indicated that compensation will remain a top priority for follow‑up discussions.