Republicans call for teacher pay raise, then rage against it

Journalist John Maginnis takes Louisiana Republicans to task today in the Times-Picayune (unfortnately, the editorial is not available online). Last year, the state's Republican Party was screaming for a pay raise for teachers, so Governor Blanco offered one that was tied to a tax on tobacco. So they screamed about how dare she tax tobacco, and that was the end of it, since she did not think the budget could handle the pay raise at the time.

Now, faced with a surprise budget surplus, the governor is calling on the legislature to use it for a pay raise for teachers and for higher education support. She is doing a public plea via radio spots, and the state's Republicans are having a fit again. How dare she try to raise teachers' pay through the budget!

Maginnis's guess is that the Louisiana Republican Party is upset that its members did not think of this idea first. Blanco is obviously taking the message to the people in order to shame the legislature into passing the measure. The raise that Blanco has it mind has been badly needed in Louisiana for a long time, since the state lags behind other Southern economies in paying teachers.

Naturally, there is post-Katrina talk about being very careful where Louisiana invests extra money, but there are a number of reaons people will not come to Louisiana to live, and one of them is the generally poor education system. Giving teachers a pay raise is a good step to take, now more than ever.