The Daily Advertiser from Lafayette, Louisiana • 14

14A The Advertiser Fridav. May 25, 2001 Our State Revised MFP spreads out $4 million for teacher pay increase BESE supports raise, disagrees on allocation well-intended, but flawed and "unnecessarily complicated." "I'm for getting a completely new formula and starting this thing from scratch. he said. one or two years unless there's a major change in the attitude toward funding public education. "We're continually told how much money the state has put into public education in the last four or five years, and it's true." he said.

"But I'd ask you to please compare it to the increase in the state budget" Board member James Stafford said he believed all along that the Minimum Foun dation Program formula was "I will certainly vote for this, but I am doing so under duress." Donna Contois BESE member A Hungrv tor a REAL GYRO? Lamb, Beef or understand anything but across-the board pay raises, the teachers don't understand anything but across-the board pay raises, and neither does the public." said BESE member Walter Lee. "It appears to me we've got to develop a better formula that can be understood by the citizens." Ron Wascom. assistant executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association point ed out that all of the increase in the formula $70 million is being used to provide half of the pay raise, yet schools will have to face the brunt of increased energy costs and other expenses. "We're on a collision course." he said. "Some of our school systems can't survive longer than Cedar Deli Chicken 1115 Jefferson St.

233-5460 inequitable by redistributing that money" BESE needs to look toward setting a state salary for teachers, taking into consideration the level of experience and education a teacher may have, board member Dale Bayard said. "The Legislature doesn't STOP SHOP Dan Turner Gannett Capital Bureau BATON ROUGE Chaffing under legislative pressure, the state education board revised its funding plan Thursday to provide teachers with a larger than advertised pay increase across the board. The revised Minimum Foundation Program replaces a formula the Board of Secondary and Elementary Education sent earlier to the Legislature, and the board clearly wasn't pleased about it. Instead of public school classroom certified teachers receiving a minimum salary increase of $2,000. with teachers in eight districts scheduled to receive up to $3,000 increases, the new plan is exactly what lawmakers and teacher unions have demanded: Every teacher gets the same amount.

The formula reallocates about $4 million and now calls for each teacher to get a total of $2,060. The extra $60 works out to be about $1.15 a week before taxes. "I will certainly vote for this, but I am doing so under duress," said BESE member Donna Contois. Like the Legislature and the teacher unions. BESE was all for a teacher pay raise.

How the THE ONE Stone Energy Corporation BRAKES EXHAUST ALIGNMENT WAINTENACE SUSPENSION OIL CHANGE TRANSMISSIONRADIATOR FULSH COOLANT SHOCKS STRUTS raise is allocated is where the disagreement begins. The Minimum Foundation Program is a complex formula intended to pump more money into school districts in poor parishes. A virtual mandate for an across-the-board raise works counter to the objectives of the formula and rubbed against the grain of the BESE members. But lawmakers, particularly those from parishes where school districts were scheduled to receive only the $2,000 per teacher pay increase under the old formula, decried the plan that they said was unequal. BESE.

however, wasn't looking at the pay raises in a vacuum. Instead, the formula took into account the relative wealth of a school district. "Being equitable is a lot like the comment about being pregnant either you are or you aren't," said BESE President Paul Pastorek. "All we're talking now is, we were very inequitable by giving a $2,000 minimum pay raise to even' district, and now we're just being a little bit more VSD BRAKES PADS A SHOES Congratulates randon vJTuilbeau son of Tim Dixie Guilbeau on his graduation from Beau Chenes High School. ENGINEERED FOR A SAFTER QUIETER STOP OFF Aw E.

wsTWHanawron tm Quieter operations thanks to 100 osbestos-free professional grade friction materials and extensive use of shims, slots and chamfers to dampen noise vibrations Performance that exceeds federal standards for safety Lifetime Warranty School strike in Rapides continues Principal: Union not addressing true grievances of strikers. FRIDAY 10am-6pm SATURDAY 10 am -6pm SUNDAY 1PM-OPM falsi tilfjljiZ'Jf ithi r.n THIS WEEKEND ONLY- Don't let this opportunity pass you by! DOUBLE SAVINGS DURING THIS LIMITED SALE ON LIVING NOOIt, BEDROOM AND DINING ROOM, ACCESSORIES. LAMPS, DESKS, ARMOIRE MATTRESSES, RECLINERS, CHAIRS, TABLES, EVERYTHING IN OUR VAST SHOWROOM! friITDV PIECE OF ALL BEDDING, ALL APPLIANCES AND TVS ON SALE! FAMOUS BRAND ALEXANDRIA (AP) Rapides Parish educators unions continued their walkout Thursday after the school board's refusal to guarantee that striking workers would not be punished. The board did address one of the strikers' demands by placing on hold pay raises for central office workers. The salary increases some amounting to more than $16,000 triggered Monday's walkout, along with the board finance committee's approval of $2.7 million in budget cuts, including some that would affect the classroom.

The board's decision did not affect salary increases approved for principals and other administrators. Those increases take effect in August. Schools remained open Wednesday as the strike moved into its third day. But some principals said the board had done enough and workers should return to school. "I'm quite shocked that school did not resume this morning as normal," said Marguerite McNeely, principal of Oak Hill High School in Hineston.

"It leads me to believe that the union is not addressing the people's true grievances." McNeely said fewer than 100 of her 300 students attended classes Wednesday. A little over half of her faculty and staff were at work. The final day of classes is June 1. Many schools begin final exams next week. i BE? EsS Hi WW Daybeds.

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"But. somewhere down the line, she's got to put her trust in somebody and that person could help us." Bunch said Wednesday. $399 lti hftfe jjfo jwL.