OPELOUSAS, La. (AP) - The St. Landry Parish School Board will hand out bonus checks to employees in May.
Each full-time employee will receive an extra $542. Full-time and permanent substitutes with the board for at least the past two school years will get $271. Substitutes who have worked the 2013-2014 year will get $150.
The school board is only paying bonuses for non-certificated full-time employees because the state is already giving $542 bonuses to certificated personnel. The school board’s move to grant additional bonuses was made in light of that action.
The Daily World reports (https://bit.ly/1qesC4O) that the bonuses were approved Thursday night.
Approval came after debate over bonuses for substitutes.
Board member Roger Young wanted the extra money only for the full-time contracted employees, those who have “remained loyal and dedicated” through the system’s hard times.
“If there’s a problem with substitute pay, let’s handle it as a separate item,” he said.
Young noted that contracted full-time employees have had to suffer through delayed pay raises and increased insurance premiums. The school board used both strategies to help avoid a multimillion-dollar fiscal deficit at the end of the 2011-2012 year.
Raymond Cassimere said the substitutes played a role in avoiding the deficit.
“These subs have helped us maintain a balanced budget and helped us to survive,” he said.
Substitute employees are paid less and receive no benefits. Many substitute employees in the system have worked that way for several years. At least one, a substitute bus driver, has worked for 20 years. Donnie Perron said granting the all-inclusive bonuses would have opened up a can of worms for that reason.
“How do we justify or identify what a substitute is?” he asked. “We’ve never given a sub any kind of raise or bonus.”
“They’re not subs by choice,” member Randy Wagley said. “They’re subs because we can’t afford to hire them full-time because of our financial problems. I think to leave them out would be unfair.”
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Information from: The Daily World, https://www.dailyworld.com
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