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June 27, 2019
Dear Colleagues,
I hope your summer is going well. I know all of you are getting ready for another great school year in Ascension Public Schools, as we prepare to serve the children of this community.
We are happy to officially inform you that every employee in Ascension Public Schools will receive a salary increase in the upcoming school year in addition to the appropriate annual step increase. State lawmakers approved a pay increase of $1,000 for all certified teachers and a $500 pay increase for all support staff to be included in salary schedules for 2019-20. In addition to this state increase, the Ascension Parish School Board generously approved the 2019-20 general fund budget with a matching $1,000 increase for certified employees and $500 for support staff. That results in an overall annual pay increase of $2,000 for certified teachers and related positions and $1,000 for support staff.
Please join me in extending a big “thank you” to our Board Members for using local dollars to add to the state-approved increases. You are all critical to the successful accomplishment of our mission, and each of you has a significant impact on our efforts to serve children each day. This is one way in which our school board recognizes and rewards the value of every employee in our school system.
In addition to across-the-board pay increases, the 2019-20 Salary Schedule implements recommendations from outside consultant Lean Frog that resolve issues around internal equity. Those areas include salary schedules for teachers hired prior to July 1, 2013, the clerical salary schedule, and the leadership salary schedule. The adjustments made to those schedules have only positive impacts to our employees. If you have any questions regarding details of any of the adjustments you see in the 2019-20 Salary Schedule, please contact your immediate supervisor. They will be able to answer your questions or will be able to find the answer to your question by contacting others.
The 2019-20 Salary Schedule will be posted online by the end of this week. Our Business Department is working hard to ensure it is cleaned up properly and accurate. Please join me in thanking this great department for their hard work to develop a budget and revise the salary schedule during the past few weeks! This is no small task, but they have successfully executed this huge and important project.
 On a similar note, it was recently approved that employees will not see any additional costs to their health insurance for the 2019-20 plan year. We anticipate an increase in the cost of health care insurance of about $1.9 million, but at this time, those costs will not be passed along to employees. This was another effort of our Board Members, who approved including those additional costs in our General Fund Budget rather that increasing the employee portion.
As we approach the July 4th holiday, which marks the midpoint of summer break, I hope each of you enjoy some moments of celebration and rest that result in great memories and renewed energy. I am confident that we will all be prepared in the very near future to do what we do – serve children well! Thanks for all you do to make Ascension a great place to go to school and a great place to work by exhibiting service, teamwork, leadership, and learning that results in "Excellence. Ascending Together!"
With all respect and admiration for what you do
each day to serve children and each other,
David Alexander
Superintendent
Ascension Public Schools
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