§418. Salaries; teachers and other school employees

A.(1) The governing authority of each local public elementary and secondary school, the state special schools, and the schools and programs administered through the special school district shall establish salary schedules by which to determine the salaries to be paid to teachers and all other school employees. The salaries as provided therein shall be considered as full compensation for all work required and performed within each employee's prescribed scope of duties and responsibilities.

(2) Such salary schedules shall be established and published not later than January 1, 2013, and shall become effective for all employees not later than the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.

B.(1) Salary schedules established for teachers, administrators, and other certified school personnel shall be based upon the following criteria, with no one criterion accounting for more than fifty percent of the formula used to compute such employees' salaries:

(a) Effectiveness, as determined by the performance evaluation program as provided in R.S. 17:3881 through 3905.

(b) Demand inclusive of area of certification, particular school need, geographic area, and subject area, which may include advanced degree levels.

(c) Experience.

(2) No teacher or administrator who is rated "ineffective" pursuant to the performance evaluation program as provided in R.S. 17:3881 through 3905 shall receive a higher salary in the year following the evaluation than he received in the year of the evaluation.

C.(1) The amount of the annual salary paid to a teacher or other school employee in any school year shall not be reduced below the amount of such salary paid during the previous school year, nor shall the amount of the annual salary paid to such school personnel be reduced at any time during an academic year.

(2) Each vocational agricultural teacher employed by a city, parish, or other local public school board shall teach a twelve-month program for a twelve-month budget period and shall be paid a proportional salary for a twelve-month budget period according to the salary schedule established by his employing school board.

(3) The limitations on the reduction in the amount of the annual salary paid to teachers and other school employees shall not be applicable to:

(a) The correction of any accounting errors or to a reduction necessitated by the elimination of a state program or state funding.

(b) The reduction of any local salary supplement funded, in whole or in part, from a revenue source requiring voter approval when such voter approval has not been obtained.

(c) A teacher or other school employee who has been promoted to a position of higher salary is demoted in accordance with applicable law and local board or special school district policy to a lower position. In such case, the teacher or other school employee shall return to the salary previously received in the lower position from which he was promoted.

(d) The elimination, discontinuance, or reorganization of the position to which the employee is assigned that results in the employee working fewer hours, days, or months. In such case, the employee's salary for that academic year shall not be reduced. After that year, the employee's salary shall be determined in accordance with the salary schedule established pursuant to Subsection A of this Section.

D. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to any employee who is in the classified service of the state.

Acts 2012, No. 1, §2, eff. July 1, 2012; Acts 2016, No. 466, §1.