Assistant Super Intendent Steve Alfonso understands why teacher pay is such a struggle.

(ST. TAMMANY, LA) Assistant Superintendent Steve Alfonso understands why teachers want to be paid more than they currently are.

St. Tammany Parish Teacher Salaries

Alfonso is the Assistant Superintendent for St. Tammany Parish school system. He, along with Superintendent Frank Jabbia, and CFO Terry Privoste come together between three to five times a year to approve the teacher pay raises for the year.

“We do a pay raise every year. We have been for the last few years. We try to do it every year, but in 2011 when the state budget was frozen, we had to do some things. They get a raise every year, some sort of raise. It is a collaborative effort. The superintendents, the CFO, and myself meet the parameters of a budget to see what we can raise, then we come up with an estimate and we agree on that estimate,” Alfonso said.

When coming up with the pay raise, they look at what’s available in the budget. Then, they try to give a raise off of what is already declared by the state every year. Teacher pay and the raise are based on the tax base and where teachers fall in the salary schedules. 

 “We have an income scale where we have all of these components to take into account. When the state gave $2,000, we looked in our budget to see what we could give them in addition to the state raise. We gave every employee two steps, so an additional $1,000,” Alfonso said.

All teachers receive the same amount, but St. Tammany Parish received an incentive package in addition to the raise depending on what the teachers taught. However, special education for example is a critical shortage area. St. Tammany gave them an incentive which is a step two raise, indicating a $1,000 plus incentive package. The incentive package is beneficial to the faculty and staff as well as the same rate everybody received. 

The incentive package that St. Tammany Parish provides to its faculty and staff contains immense health and life insurance benefits. The package provides protection as long as they’re enrolled in the St. Tammany system. For families who have children, this package provides health, vision, and dental insurance until the children are 25 years old.

The majority of Alfonso and his colleagues’ responsibilities are governed by enrollments, allotments, and taxes. In any raise that they do, there are two significant portions of St. Tammany’s employment. There is a support division and a certified division that recognizes those individuals with and without a degree. 

“Our certificate people got a $1,000 raise, our non certificate people got $750. We get paid from a tax base to accommodate 37,000 people, so you have to use that tax money for education purposes and salaries. For example, about 81% of our budget is salaries and benefits. That small 20% portion is used to educate a child,” said Alfonso. 

According to Alfonso, that’s why most people become affiliated with the private sectors, where people are paid based on merit or bonus. They’re not using taxpayer money. 

St. Tammany Parish native Sarah Wortmann, 35, teaches at Fontainebleau High School. She feels that their pay is decent. Though she’s not struggling to live off of her pay,  she wishes it was better. Wortmann also acknowledged that teachers who receive lower pay are choosing to retire early. 

“My husband and I are both teachers. Of course, I’ve thought I work harder than what I get paid. It does require a lot of outside of contract hours work if you want to be a good teacher. I wish it was better, but I don’t think it's horrible, and I’m appreciative of the benefits. For some teachers, I think the lower pay is driving them out. Most people would say yes, we should be paid more because it’s almost disrespectful that teachers work so hard and get paid so little. But I love being a teacher and I would not give it up because of the pay,” Wortmann said. 

Wortmann additionally recognized the pay can often feel inadequate because of the out of contract hours. Some teachers question why they still teach, but wanting to be a great teacher requires extra hours because the teachers love their students, not the money. 

“There’s no incentive to try harder or excel in your career because there's no monetary incentive for it. It has to be a personal thing, you have to want to be a good teacher in your heart rather than wanting to get paid,” she said.

Wortmann said teachers would appreciate it if the superintendents took into account the extra hours that are put into being put into a week's or a day's work.

“I wish they considered all the amounts of outside contract hours that teachers do because we love our students. They give us a curriculum that would put most people to sleep and we make it interesting.  I think the outside hours should be rewarded, and I know they try to with the stipends, but that doesn't always equate. I feel like there's a way to reward the outside work that teachers do. But I don’t know if there is because I don't know how you’d track that. With all of the outside work, the pay doesn't equate to the hours that we put in. But there isn't a teacher here that would say pay is the most important,” said Wortmann. 

The superintendents, however, make many differentiations when determining pay. Alfonso explained before he became an assistant superintendent, he used to be a coach. So, when teachers think they don’t understand the pay cuts, or how they feel, he does. He also understands the dynamics in the classrooms aren’t the same across the board and some children can be more challenging than others. 

“I used to be a coach, and I coached in a Catholic school. I came over to public school in Mandeville on this side of the lake. When I did that I took a pay cut because of what the Catholic private entity was willing to pay me. So when you’re dealing with tax it's just a whole different field. So we do have some issues, but we don’t face the issues that most people do. So it's just the work environment, morale, the raises, the incentive package, and things like that we do to keep the teachers,” said Alfonso.

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