Ascension Parish board approves salary schedule and one-time payments after teachers urge higher pay

The Ascension Parish School Board approved a proposed 2026–27 salary schedule and one-time payments tied to a state executive order after an extended public comment period in which teachers urged larger, permanent raises.

Board members voted to accept the salary schedule and the one-time payments following a motion by John Murphy and a second by Marty; the chair announced, “motion carries,” but the transcript does not record a roll-call tally.

Why it matters: teachers said pay has lost ground in real terms and warned that current salaries make retention difficult. Eric Brownfield, a teacher with decades in the district, told the board Ascension’s local wealth makes the case for higher pay: “To whom much is given, much is required,” he said. Valerie Dejomo, a teacher and federation vice president, said the average Ascension teacher wage has fallen in purchasing power compared with 20 years ago and asked the board to recognize that reduction: “Each year that I stay in Ascension… I am robbing my family $14,000,” she said.

What the board approved: the package discussed included honoring the governor’s executive-order payments (staff eligible for either $2,000 or $1,000, by eligibility as described by administration) and a separate $1,500 nonrecurring payment; Superintendent Dr. Ian Thorpe and finance staff said the district currently has about $8.3 million budgeted toward those items and estimated the combined cost at roughly $14.46 million. Administration warned that changes in state funding (the MFP) or future executive actions could require the board to revisit the budget later in the year.

Board response and constraints: board members acknowledged disagreement between desire and fiscal capacity. The chair said the board values teachers and wants higher compensation but must balance the budget and account for state funding uncertainty, noting the district serves about 24,000 students and operates more than 200 buses. The superintendent reiterated the plan to make staff “whole” for the executive-order amounts and said there is no intention to cut base pay this year.

Next steps: the board approved the item and moved on to other business. The transcript records the motion and chair’s announcement that it carried; it does not include a detailed vote tally or precise implementation timetable beyond administration’s outline that payments will be distributed if revenues trend as projected and that the board may revisit the issue in November or December if state actions change revenue assumptions.