BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge School Board is trying to find a way to give its employees a raise, but after several meetings and with the school year approaching, a budget still has not been approved.

"The money is on the way, I want to reassure the community that the money is on the way," EBR School Board President Dadrius Lanus said.

On Thursday, a special meeting was held to decide on two proposed budgets to move forward with, but confusion between board members caused a motion to table the decision for another week.

"Once we publish, we won't be able to make any changes, so we just want to make sure we give the board enough time to hear public feedback from our constituents, residents and our board of colleagues before we finalize a decision," Lanus said.

There are two proposals that are favored by both the board and employees. Option two provides a one time stipend for all employees. Option four gives employees a supplemental salary increase over three years, but doesn't apply to principals and assistant principals.

"I am in support of narrowing it down to these two options of the four, preferably number four because I think it has a better chance of becoming a long-term pay raise, which is the ultimate goal, but two is a nice compromise," a speaker said.

To find funding for these raises, cuts have to be made. A letter was sent to over 160 employees, including assistant principals, notifying them of possible termination.

"Their decisions not only impact the educational environment in our schools in this district, but it also impacts educators ability to support their families, and if our district continues to cut, we already struggle with recruitment and retention we need the absolute best of the best," EBR Educator Ryan Picard said. 

The board will narrow down their budget search at next Thursday's special meeting that will start at 4 p.m.