By Kyle Roberts
The Lincoln Parish School Board finance committee met Thursday afternoon to discuss the plan for distributing two stipends for staff and faculty parishwide, which will be brought for a full vote in November’s session.
The meeting consisted of finance chairman George Mack (District 11), Gregg Phillips (District 8), Clark Canterbury (District 3), Hunter Smith (District 7), Danny Hancock (District 5), with Otha Anders (District 10) absent.
The committee discussed for nearly an hour options for how to distribute funds for both differentiated compensation stipends and 2023 certificated and support staff stipends, both for the fiscal year 2023-24.
The proposed plan for the differentiated compensation stipend will be used to support teacher recruitment and retention by awarding stipends to eligible classroom teachers who meet at least one of the following criteria:
- Received a highly effective final evaluation Compass rating for the 2022-23 school year in a Lincoln Parish school; OR
- Teach in one of the following critical shortage areas in the 2023-24 school year: Secondary Mathematics (Grades 6-12), Secondary Science (Grades 6-12), Special Education (Grades PK-12)
The proposed stipend for eligible full-time classroom teachers will be $560, while part-time classroom teachers will received a prorated amount based on the percentage of full-time schedule worked in the 2023-24 school year.
Eligible employees must be:
- School board employees (reported as 01 in the staffing data collection);
- Actively working on Dec. 1, 2023;
- Working in positions that meet the LDOE definition of a teacher
- Work at least 10 hours per week on a regular schedule
The longer portion of the meeting was to discussion options for the 2023 certificated and support staff stipends.
A total of $1,332,863 was allocated by the state of Louisiana for Lincoln Parish for certificated stipends, while $404,271 was allocated for support stipends, totaling $1,737,134.
The plan that will be presented to the full school board for vote will be as follows:
- $2,000 stipend for full-time salaried certificated positions
- $1,000 stipend for full-time salaried support positions
- $1,600 stipend for part-time hourly certificated positions
- $800 stipend for part-time yourself certificated positions
Both part-time salaried and hourly certificated positions that work less than 20 hours per week will receive a prorated amount based on the percentage of full-time schedule worked.
This will include previously unfunded Pre-K positions. The general fund from the LSPB will contribute $174,037.67
The full school board will vote on Tuesday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m.
