Lafayette Parish remains near the middle of the pack among Louisiana school districts when it comes to annual teacher pay. However, the state is still below the national average for teacher pay.

The school system ranks around No. 27 out of 68 districts, said Bruce Leininger, the district’s human resources director. In Lafayette Parish, the annual pay for teachers is about $3,200 less than the top 15 paying districts in the state, he added.

Compared to some other Louisiana school districts — both those of similar size and in the Acadiana area — Lafayette Parish is somewhere in between, higher than some areas but lower than others.

According to the 2015-16 salary schedule, the starting pay for a Lafayette Parish teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $41,427. A starting teacher with a master’s degree earns $43,113 per year. A master’s degree plus 30 additional credit hours results in a $44,739 annual salary.

If a starting teacher has a specialist certification, the salary goes up to $45,527. A doctoral degree earns them $46,097 per year.

Teachers earn incremental raises each year, based on their experience, any additional education they receive and their scores on annual evaluations. In Lafayette Parish, a teacher with several years of experience can earn anywhere from $64,638 to $69,218 per year, depending on their educational level.

According to the Louisiana Department of Education, the state average for teacher pay in 2013-14 was $48,372 without extra compensation, and $49,268 for teachers who receive extra, which can be tied to experience, education and/or evaluations.

The National Education Association reported that in 2013-14, the average teacher salary in the United States was $56,610.

Leininger said the salary schedule has been in place for several years, but has been tweaked periodically. Most recently, the schedule was amended after the Lafayette Parish School Board voted to add $1,000 to teachers’ base salaries. Other adjustments were made to the booklet to clarify who is eligible for that raise.

In Lafayette Parish, about 13 percent of teachers’ salaries is based on sales tax revenue, Leininger said. But it would take a major drop in tax collections to affect teacher pay.

“If it got really bleak and that revenue dropped significantly, and I mean by somewhere around 17 percent, then that would create some difficulties, especially for being able to continue to provide that $1,000,” he said. “This year, the sales taxes have been reduced, but the projections for the year are around 8 percent, so we’re only approaching half of the number that would affect salaries.”

At least two South Louisiana parishes have starting salaries that are more than Lafayette Parish. The starting salary for a teacher in Calcasieu Parish is $43,461, according to the schedule on its website. That salary can increase to more than $44,000 for teachers with master’s degrees or additional certifications, up to $44,718 for a starting teacher with a doctoral degree.

In Calcasieu Parish, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree can earn up to $62,861 per year with experience and regular increases. That amount can increase to more than $65,000 per year for teachers with additional education.

Meanwhile, the starting salary for teachers in Iberia Parish is $42,636 for those with a bachelor’s degree. The salary goes up to $42,989 for starting teachers with a master’s degree, $43,512 for those with a specialist certification and $44,228 for teachers with a doctoral degree. The salaries in Iberia Parish top out at anywhere from $52,751 to $55,925, depending on the teacher’s educational level.

The Lafayette Parish salaries are very close to those in Caddo Parish, where last year’s starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree was $41,967. In Caddo Parish, teachers can earn around $44,000 with a master’s degree, and up to $47,067 with a doctoral degree. The salaries can increase to $56,198 to $61,298 for teachers with more experience.

However, the salaries in Lafayette Parish are more than in some other districts. In Rapides Parish, Vermilion Parish and Acadia Parish, the starting salaries for teachers with bachelor’s degrees are less than $40,000.

In Rapides Parish, that salary can go to $48,915 for teachers with several years of experience and advanced degrees. It can rise to up to $58,658 in Vermilion and $49,102 in Acadia, according to their salary schedules.

Leininger said the district keeps an eye on what other Louisiana school systems are paying, although it generally doesn’t result in major changes to the Lafayette schedule. Besides the $1,000 raise, Leininger said there have been other tweaks in recent years, including slight changes to stipends for coaches and the creation of a new salary grade for the assistant superintendent. That position has since been eliminated, but the grade itself remains.

Although the schedule was just recently presented to the school board for information, Leininger said it’s been in use for the entire school year.

“Our payroll system is set up and has all the amounts allocated correctly,” he said.

The only glitch, was that about 30 employees were still being paid on last year’s schedule, he said.

“Somewhere, the system did not pull the data,” he said. “We fixed all of that, and anyone who was affected will be retroactively paid the difference.”