LIVINGSTON - The Livingston Parish School Board has approved bonus payments for the district's staff amid an ongoing fight over teacher pay. 

The school system announced Thursday that the board approved a proposal from Superintendent Joe Murphy to pay out stipends ranging from $2,000 to $4,600.

Read the full statement below. 

The Livingston Parish School Board on Thursday (Aug. 17) voted to accept a proposal by Superintendent Joe Murphy and his staff to award employees a pay bonus for the current fiscal year.

Murphy presented a plan that would allow monies from three different sources to be
combined to give certified personnel as much as $4,600 this school year and classified
personnel as much as $2,000 on top of this year’s salary.

The breakdown and pay out of the monies are as follows:

1) Certified personnel will receive $2,000, and classified personnel will receive $1,000
from state-issued monies approved in the 2023 Legislative Session. These monies
will be issued to all full-time active employees on Oct. 12, 2023.

2) Certified personnel will receive another $2,000 and classified personnel will receive
another $1,000 from Livingston Parish Schools, thanks to increased sales tax revenue
and the district’s ability to use federally issued ESSR funds to pay for some general
fund issues. These monies will be issued to all full-time active employees on May 3,
2024;

3) Teachers who qualify for the Differentiated Compensation Stipend, which is based
on their annual evaluations, will receive according to the following schedule: $200
for Effective Emerging Teachers; $300 for Effective Proficient Teachers; and $600 for
Highly Effective Teachers. These monies will be distributed in the spring semester.

“Our teachers and support staff workers are most worthy of these added dollars,”
Murphy said.

“It is no secret that our district faced a disappointing loss in the spring when we did not
gain the support we needed for an across-the-board 10% raise to allow our district to compete for the best employees; but that loss has not diminished this administration’s effort to find ways to reward our people,” Murphy said.

“With that said, we are pleased with the board’s approval of this plan, and we look
forward to adding these funds to their paychecks in the coming days and months ahead.”

Murphy noted that the legislative stipend to be issued on Oct. 12, 2023, and the
district’s matching stipend to be paid on May 3, 2024, will go to full-time active employees.
Retired employees and persons who terminate their employment with the district prior to Oct. 2, 2023, will not be eligible for the state’s stipend; and those who retire or terminate their employment prior to April 26, 2024, will not be eligible for the district’s matching stipend.

He said the Effectiveness Stipend, which is set at the three increased levels of payment,
will be available to the district’s teachers this school year and in the 2024-2025 school year.