{"id":8891,"date":"2019-07-08T11:56:22","date_gmt":"2019-07-08T16:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=8891"},"modified":"2019-07-08T11:35:44","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T16:35:44","slug":"teacher-unions-look-to-fall-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2019\/07\/08\/teacher-unions-look-to-fall-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Teacher Unions Look To Fall Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jeremy Alford and\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Mitch Rabalais<\/i><\/p>\n

One day after word of a possible teacher walkout hit the capitol, Gov. John Bel Edwards appeared on the building\u2019s steps to publicly urge House members to approve the school funding formula pushed by his administration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Edwards joined members of the Louisiana Coalition of Public Schools who had gathered on the steps to support his proposal, which was approved by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.<\/p>\n

The plan includes raises of $1,000 for teachers and $500 for school support employees and an additional $39 million in funding for the school districts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lawmakers, including Senate Education Chairman Blade Morrish, R-Jennings, and Rep. Pat Smith, D-Baton Rouge, remained confident that the House would approve the funding formula.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe House of Representatives is going to vote this in if I have anything to do with it,\u201d Smith said at the press conference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Senate had already advanced the state school board\u2019s proposal in a 37 to 1 vote. House Republicans have proposed an alternative to Morrish\u2019s plan, including a $1,200 pay raise for teachers and a $600 pay raise for support employees.<\/p>\n

But their measure, included in the budget bill authored by Appropriations Chair Cameron Henry, did not include the additional $39 million in discretionary funding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t move the funding formula all the way through the process and match it up with an appropriation,\u201d Edwards said at the press conference, \u201cyou can call it what you want, but it will not be a pay raise.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Leaders of the state\u2019s teacher unions remained confident that the funding formula would be approved by the full House. But if not, \u201cwe\u2019ll take it to the ballot box,\u201d said Larry Carter, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite a 2018 survey by the LFT that showed that 60 percent of union-member respondents favored a job action if they were not granted a significant pay raise, Carter said the LFT didn\u2019t have any plans to organize a strike or a walk-out if the proposed pay raises weren\u2019t included in the state\u2019s funding formula.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Debbie Meaux, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said she hoped Edwards would step in if BESE\u2019s formula was not approved. Meaux said she was waiting to see what the Legislature did before the organization took further action.<\/p>\n

But, she was confident that there would be some fallout if BESE\u2019s proposal was not approved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to use the word strike,\u201d Meaux said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to say that it will be a work action. I don\u2019t know what the fallout would be, but I\u2019m sure that there will be fallout.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are going to the polls in October,\u201d Meaux added. \u201cThey may remember that this is something that was done to them and they may not take too kindly to those who did it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s plan was passed by the Legislature on May 31.<\/p>\n

Political History: LBJ\u2019s Beef With Shreveport<\/strong><\/p>\n

In January, 1965, U.S. Sen. Russell Long heard that the while the Appropriations Committee was preparing the upcoming congressional budget, it had killed his pet project.<\/p>\n

Long had wanted to build a new post office in Shreveport, bringing federal jobs and money into the city. When he was told that the cut had been ordered by the White House, the senator picked up the phone and called President Lyndon B. Johnson.<\/p>\n

Long and the president, having been freshman senators together, were old friends. When Johnson had risen through the upper chamber\u2019s ranks and become majority leader, the Bayou State\u2019s junior senator had been one of his most reliable votes.<\/p>\n

LBJ often spoke about his admiration for the late Huey Long, Russell\u2019s father. When he was a young congressional staffer in the 1930s, the future president frequently slipped away from his desk to watch the Kingfish\u2019s tirades on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

In between appointments in the Oval Office, Johnson took Long\u2019s call. Their conversation, which was secretly recorded, is a powerful example of LBJ\u2019s domineering personality and brash political style.<\/p>\n

After exchanging pleasantries, the senator explained his predicament. The president, fresh off the largest electoral victory in American history and days away from his second inauguration, was not in a conciliatory mood. Instead of the friendly chat Long probably expected, he found himself on the receiving end of one of Johnson\u2019s legendary harangues.<\/p>\n

The president immediately made it clear that the removal of the post office project in Shreveport was made out of political animosity. Despite winning 44 states the previous fall, he had lost Louisiana to Barry Goldwater by a wide margin. Caddo Parish, in particular, had been a hotbed of anti-Johnson sentiment. Word had gotten back to the White House and it stuck in LBJ\u2019s craw.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are some of the meanest, most vicious people in the United States,\u201d Johnson told Long. \u201cNow you help those folks that vote for you and stay with you. You don\u2019t reward Shreveport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long then tried to reason with the president, telling him that getting the post office built had been his own campaign pledge and therefore could hurt his chances for re-election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told those people I was going to get it for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The president was undeterred \u2014 he would be happy to approve federal projects in Louisiana to help the senator politically, he told Long, but anything in Shreveport was out of the question. When Long mentioned recent job losses at Barksdale Air Force Base, the commander-in-chief said he was considering shutting down the whole installation.<\/p>\n

Frustrated, Long started pleading before LBJ cut him off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know your daddy must be turning over in his grave,\u201d he said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t reward people that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president knew his history well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They Said It<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing worse that biting into a veggie burger.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 State Rep. Terry Brown, I-Colfax, on imitation beef, speaking before the House Agriculture Committee\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here longer than a lot of you listening have been alive.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 Term-limited state Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi, on longevity, in his farewell speech<\/p>\n

For more Louisiana political news, visit LaPolitics.com or follow Alford and Rabalais on Twitter via @LaPoliticsNow.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeremy Alford and\u00a0Mitch Rabalais One day after word of a possible teacher walkout hit the capitol, Gov. John Bel Edwards appeared on the building\u2019s steps to publicly urge House members to approve the school funding formula pushed by his administration.\u00a0   Edwards joined members of the Louisiana Coalition of Public Schools who had gathered [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[63,1672,32],"yoast_head":"\nTeacher Unions Look To Fall Elections - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2019\/07\/08\/teacher-unions-look-to-fall-elections\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teacher Unions Look To Fall Elections - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jeremy Alford and\u00a0Mitch Rabalais One day after word of a possible teacher walkout hit the capitol, Gov. 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