Following a successful and busy year of Legislative Action, SPALS will continue to maintain contact with the Louisiana Legislature . The Day at the Capitol will be Thursday May 20, 2010. As before, SPALS will be working with LSHA to maximize the impact of our presence. Please continue to stay in touch with your legislators and check this website for updated information.

At the State Department of Education, Phyllis Butler has assumed responsibility for Speech/Language Pathology Services. If you have questions, you can contact her at 225-342-3730 or phyllis.butler@la.gov

Although we were successful winning favor with the Louisiana Legislature in the summer 2009 and our Salary Supplement was to be included in the Department of Education Budget, drastic budget cuts state-wide have caused changes.

On 1/13/2010 a letter was sent from Paul Pastorek, State Superintendent of Education to Parish Superintendents regarding the Stipends for National Board Certification. Following is a summary of the contents of that letter:

1. The state department had not yet finalized the funding for the salary supplements by December, 2009.

2. The state department applied the "mid year budget reductions" to the allocations for the salary supplements.

3. Teachers and counselors still will get the $5,000 because of the way their laws were originally written. The state department will only pay a portion of the stipend and local school districts will have to pay the remainder.

4. School Psychologists, Social Workers, Speech Pathologists, and Audiologists will receive the following amounts:

School Pscychologists:	$4,617
Social Workers:	$4,133
SLPs/AUDs:	$2,988

5. Since the funding is coming from IDEA, a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education must be received before funds will be issued from the State Department to local school districts.

6. The state department does not anticipate awarding the funds for stipends until "closer to the end of the 2009-10 fiscal year.