Lafourche Parish School Board approves new organizational chart and revised salary schedule

May 7, 2025 — The Lafourche Parish School Board approved a restructured central office and a new salary schedule intended to raise pay for classroom teachers, coaches and longtime staff, and to create two new senior positions in district administration.

Board members voted to approve a proposal presented at the May 5, 2025 board in-service by Byron Hendrick to create a chief academic officer position and an executive director of operational services, and to authorize the superintendent to draft job descriptions and advertise the new positions. The board separately approved a multi-page revised salary schedule and the accompanying system for calculating pay steps.

Board leaders said the changes aim to make teacher pay more competitive and to “right-size” pay ranges across job categories. Byron Hendrick summarized the work his team performed to benchmark Lafourche Parish against regional peers and recommended adjustments to move many positions closer to regional averages. Board discussion emphasized recruitment, retention and pay equity for long-serving staff.

Under the approved schedule, first-year teacher step increases rise from $300 to $400 annually; veteran teachers will see larger step increases (board discussion cited $500 increases for long-tenured staff). The district preserved a high master’s-degree stipend of $4,700 per year for eligible teachers. The board also approved several extracurricular and coaching changes: a middle-school athletic director index increase to 0.07, an added middle-school assistant track coach at 0.035, higher indices for high-school Tier 2 head coaches (0.09) and expanded pay for cheer and dance sponsors (indexes ranging in the materials). The district will remove the separate CSEP coaching scale and instead pay non‑certified coaches (including long‑time paraprofessionals who coach) using step 0 of the teacher salary scale when the workload is equivalent.

Superintendent Martin and business staff described mechanics for implementing the schedule. Long‑term certified substitutes with prior authorization will begin at $180 per day; teachers’ salary changes and step placements will be applied so employees can identify their placement on the new schedule. Payroll timing explained by staff: the fiscal year begins July 1, but teachers will first see the new pay reflected on the Sept. 20 paycheck for the 2025–26 school year. Board discussion included an estimate given during the meeting that the first-year lift for the district would amount to an additional $5,700,000 (as stated at the meeting). The board chair and finance staff said they intend to return with additional increases in future years as revenues permit.

Public comment included Shanna Urotich, who identified herself as a community member and former teacher and said she was “excited” the district was moving closer to regional pay standards. Several board members thanked the superintendent, business manager and the outside consultant for the analysis and said the changes would materially help recruitment and retention.

Action taken: motion to approve the new organizational structure, permit the superintendent to create and publish job descriptions for the new executive positions and to approve the revised salary schedule (motion text as presented to the board). Motion carried (vote tally not specified in the meeting record).

The board directed staff to publish the new salary schedule on the district website once finalized and indicated the district will continue to adjust compensation in future budgets as funds allow.

Details and next steps: the board approved the new pay matrix and authorized staff to place employees on the schedule according to years of experience; the district will continue to use any differentiated state funds the Louisiana Department of Education provides for performance-based stipends as required by state guidance. The board indicated some extracurricular pay changes and job reclassifications will require internal placement steps before they appear on payroll.