PORT ALLEN - The West Baton Rouge School System is evaluating the possibility of increasing teacher pay, in order to keep teachers from leaving the West bank.

Superintendent Wesley Watts says traffic on the new Mississippi River Bridge is driving teachers away.

"I had a teacher ask if she could fly an Ultralight into work everyday 'cause she lives on the other side of the river," said Watts. 

The school board is considering a $5,000 increase in salary for certified employees.

Several residents say they understand why teachers would want to avoid crossing the bridge, and that's why they say they would support an increase in pay as an incentive, to keep teachers from working somewhere else.

"We need to keep the teachers we have here and we need to be able to bring teachers in, quality teachers," said Peggy Rabalais, whose grandchildren go to school in Brusly.

If the pay raise makes it on the December ballot, voters would decide whether to support or oppose an increase in property tax. 

School officials say the average house would pay between $12 to $15 a month.