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Committee adopts 2025-26 salary schedule with expanded effectiveness stipends and new career steps
Summary
The Finance and Audit Committee approved a revised 2025-26 salary schedule that increases performance-based pay, adds pay steps, creates a certified paraprofessional grade and introduces stipends for bus safety, robotics handlers and assistant principals coaching one sport.
The Tangipahoa Parish Finance and Audit Committee on May 20 approved the 2025-26 salary schedule, expanding performance-based stipends and adding pay steps across multiple employee groups.
Mister McNeely, a school system staff member, presented the schedule and said, “We're excited about this year's salary schedule.” He said the schedule emphasizes effectiveness and performance, consolidates effectiveness stipends onto one page and increases teacher annual effectiveness stipends: "For instance, the highly effective core was 500. We doubled it to a thousand last year, and we've now doubled it to 2,000 this year." He also described a principal performance stipend tied to school Performance Score (SPS) gains: "if a principal grows their school 5 points, they would be eligible for a 1 time 5% stipend once those scores come in."
Other changes described by McNeely include: - Additional pay steps: noncertified staff gain a new step 1 (with plans to add successive steps each year); certified teachers gain a step 31 (with plans for subsequent steps); most other staff gain year 24. - Paraprofessional reclassification: creation of a certified paraprofessional grade (what had been grade 4 highly qualified becomes grade 5 certified paraprofessional). - New and expanded stipends: a $500-per-semester safety stipend for bus drivers with no at-fault accidents or safety violations; a $1,000-per-semester stipend for staff who handle robotics field-painting equipment; extra stipends for band directors and staff who manage multiple schools or sponsor clubs; conventions/overnight stipend caps ($100 per day up to two days, $200 for overnight) for clubs. - Assistant principals may receive a coaching stipend for one sport in addition to salary; McNeely said that will require a policy change “because we also have to make sure that that assistant principal does not have any type of oversight of the sport that they would be coaching or any of the other coaches.”
During the discussion, committee members asked about cost impact and funding. McNeely characterized the stipends as an alternative to paying hourly overtime — intended to mirror a $30-per-hour hourly estimate — and said the stipends and similar items would be paid from past-due sales tax revenue. He also noted the board is processing buyback of unused sick days for instructional employees, bus drivers and cafeteria workers and is collecting data ahead of year-end.
Mister Westmoreland moved to adopt the salary schedule; Mister Toler seconded. Miss Cindy opened and closed the electronic vote; the motion passed. The committee recorded no public comments on the item during the meeting.
