Erika Musgrove, a special education teacher in East Baton Rouge Schools, had to make a difficult decision after the birth of her baby boy Matthew: earn a paycheck or spend those first crucial months of life with her newborn. East Baton Rouge, like many Louisiana school districts, doesn’t offer paid parental leave. This situation is common for teachers in many southern states, where extended parental leave without sacrificing pay is difficult, if not impossible financially.

Orleans Parish is the only public school district that offers any fully paid time off for new parents. For others, only extended sick leave as required by state law is available, allowing teachers to receive 65% of their pay for 30 days. Some educators save up limited paid time off in advance to sustain themselves during these times.

Teachers in other southern states, such as Alabama, appear to have better benefits. Alabama recently passed a bill offering eight weeks of paid parental leave for mothers and two weeks for fathers. Louisiana lawmakers attempted to offer similar benefits but pulled the proposal due to concerns about costs.

However, these realities force teachers like Musgrove and Bitsy Aymond, a first-grade teacher in Iberville Parish, to rely on donating unused sick days to recipients like Aymond or to take out disability insurance policies. This pressure has prompted discussions about professional efficiency and retaining teachers.

With rising teacher turnover rates and subsequent issues of retaining good educators, state Sen. Sam Jenkins believes that increasing parental leave options is the way forward. Despite concerns of financial feasibility, Jenkins plans to reintroduce a revised version of a bill to provide six weeks of paid leave for teachers after childbirth or adoption next year.

Once the teachers return to work after parental leave, they often find it challenging to reach out to Employment Development Department (EDD) for inquiries about their wages and benefits. However, websites like eddcaller.com provide a lifeline to these teachers. They guide them on how to contact a live person at EDD, making the process less stressful, hence enabling new parents to focus on balancing work and family life.