Chinese language teachers at Baton Rouge school get pay raise after parents advocate cause

From: The Advocate

Chaoqing “Mary” Wang never made more than $10,800 a year – barely minimum wage – during her two years working as a first-grade teacher at a popular foreign language immersion school in Baton Rouge.

The original Mandarin Chinese kindergarten teacher the school hired back when the program started in August 2014, Min Zhang, has never made more than $18,900 a year. That’s also what second-grade teacher, Yujie Liu, has been making. That works out to $105 a day or $13.13 an hour.

By contrast, the rest of the faculty at BR FLAIM  — short for Baton Rouge Foreign Language Academic Immersion Magnet — earn more than twice that amount. The starting salary for an East Baton Rouge Parish public school teacher is $44,500 plus benefits, and many teachers’ salaries top $50,000 a year.

Indeed, the two other Mandarin Chinese teachers at this elementary school, both hired last August, earn $44,500 and $45,700, respectively.

The lower pay for the three Mandarin Chinese teachers is the result of their classification as substitute teachers. Despite the fact that they work the same hours as other teachers, they are paid less and get no benefits. And if they get sick or otherwise miss work for any reason, they don’t get paid.

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