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House Education panel advances six-week paid parental leave for K–12 staff
Summary
The House Education Committee reported SB 157 as amended to provide six weeks of paid parental leave at 100% base pay for eligible K–12 employees, create a reimbursement fund and require implementation be subject to legislative appropriation; supporters said it will aid recruitment and family health, while members pressed for funding details.
The House Education Committee on May 19 voted to report SB 157 as amended, a bill from Sen. Jay Jenkins that would provide eligible public K–12 employees six weeks of paid parental leave for the birth, fostering or adoption of a child.
Jenkins told the panel the benefit would deliver the employee’s full base pay while on leave and would be administered through a newly created “Parental Leave for Educators Fund.” The fund would reimburse local school districts for substitute costs; its use would be subject to a future appropriation by the legislature. The bill establishes a 12-week window to use the leave, bars banking of unused weeks and creates a 12-month minimum interval between qualifying events.
The measure drew sustained support from education and public-health witnesses. Anne Jayes of the Louisiana Public Health Institute told the committee that paid parental leave improves health outcomes, citing lower rates of postpartum depression and higher breastfeeding rates when parents have paid leave. “It’s a recruitment and retention tool for teachers,” she said, noting several neighboring states already offer similar benefits.
Teacher Erica Musgrove described the policy’s personal impact. Musgrove said her newborn spent weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit and she returned to work before her family had sufficient paid leave. “By the time he was out of the NICU, I was nearing the point where I didn’t even have full-time paid leave,” she said. “I had to justify: do I stay home with a baby that’s barely 5 pounds, or go back to work so I have income.”
Larry Carter, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and School Employees, urged the committee to move the bill forward, saying an LFT survey found educators routinely exhaust sick or annual leave to cover family needs and that “no bus driver, paraprofessional, cafeteria worker, custodian, clerk, nurse, or teacher should be punished for having a child.”
Lawmakers asked detailed questions about the mechanics and cost. Rep. Tarver pressed how the fund and appropriation would operate; Jenkins said the bill establishes the fund and anticipates future appropriations to reimburse districts for substitute pay. Representative Omidy and others expressed concern that implementation depends on appropriations and that without funding the entitlement could remain unfunded in practice.
Committee members adopted a technical amendment (changing “may” to “shall” in an LEA requirement) and, with no objections, voted to report the bill as amended. The action moves SB 157 to the next stage in the legislative process; any appropriations and the final fiscal impact will be decided later.
What happens next: SB 157 was reported as amended and will advance to subsequent committee(s) or the floor depending on the legislative calendar. The bill’s actual start date and the level of state funding available to support district reimbursements are “subject to appropriation,” as the author told the committee.
Provenance: topicintro: SEG 466; topfinish: SEG 1040.
Speakers quoted: Senator Jay Jenkins (author), Anne Jayes (Louisiana Public Health Institute), Erica Musgrove (classroom teacher), Larry Carter (LFT).
