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Happy Holidays from your LFT Family!

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As we approach the end of the year, with winter break right around the corner, we want to take a moment to thank you for your tireless devotion to your students. Louisiana’s teachers and school employees, our members, are some of the most hard working and selfless people on the planet, but you shouldn’t have to sacrifice your well-being to be an effective educator. That is why we come together to fight for dignity and professionalism for teachers and support staff in schools. We want to make sure that your love for your students isn’t overshadowed by the day-to-day minutia of tiresome meetings, paperwork, and uninspiring curriculum. You are a creative and dynamic educator and you should be treated as such. Thank you for coming together with your colleagues so that together we can fight for this profession and our students. Whether you are counting down the days until break, or you can’t believe how much you still need to do before the end of the year (or both), now is a time to look back at some of our collective highlights. MORE

2023 Winter Social

Save the date for our upcoming winter social.  All Federation members are invited and are welcome to bring a plus one, we will be sending out an official digital invitation and RSVP at a later date.

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November 2022: Flawed Accountability Proposal Fails to Pass!

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On Thursday, November 10th the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education held a special meeting to finally vote on the long-debated changes to the high school accountability model. The proposed changes were adamantly opposed by superintendents, principals, teachers, school board members and other educational stakeholders, but supported by non-education special interest groups like the Pelican Institute, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.

In particular, the changes would have de-prioritized dual enrollment courses
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LDOE Blames Teachers for the Issues with eSER Rollout

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On October 10, 2022, two representatives from the Louisiana Department of Education testified before the Louisiana Senate Education Committee. They were questioned about the issues teachers and districts faced with the rollout of the new electronic Special Education Reporting (eSER) system. Thomas Lambert, Assistant Superintendent Office of Assessments, Accountability, & Analytics and Meredith Jordan, Executive Director of Diverse Learners largely focused on issues of human error and "the deep learning curve." They said the issue was teachers who couldn't figure out the new system, even though it was "more intuitive and looks like a modern web solution." MORE

Substitute Recruitment Incentive Program

Members Only Sub Incentive Plan

The St. Tammany Parish School System has been discussing the shortage of substitutes in the system.  As a result, our council decided to look at our finances to see what we could do to help incentivize current members to help find employees to add to the substitute pool. 

Some key facts of our plan are as follows:

  1. Our funds are composed of membership dues money, so anything we decide to do with the money shall be for members only.  So, this plan will only be able to reward members.
  2. At this time, our council has approved $5,000 for this plan with the ability to go
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BESE Update: October 2022

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Tuesday’s committee meetings began with a public hearing to receive public recommendations regarding the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), which is the funding formula for Louisiana public schools. As expected, advocates from the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, the Louisiana School Boards Association, and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools testified in favor of increasing funding in level one of the MFP – which is the part of the formula that gives school districts the greatest flexibility in how they can use the additional funding. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) has continued to advocate for additional funding to be directed into level four of the MFP, which is the portion of the formula that funds teacher and school employee salaries. The only way to ensure that teachers and school employees receive a raise next year is for additional funding to go into level four. MORE