Federation Endorses Ben Banchs for District 7: Putting Experience to Work for Our Schools

Federation Endorses Ben Banchs for District 7: Putting Experience to Work for Our Schools

I'm honored to have the endorsement of the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees in my race for District 7 on the St. Tammany Parish School Board. These are the people who teach our kids, drive the buses, run the cafeterias, and keep the buildings working. Their support means everything to me.

An endorsement is a responsibility. It means showing up, doing the homework, asking the questions nobody else is asking, and working with the people who are on the front-lines everyday to fix what needs fixing.

Here's how that meshes with my top-three priorities.

1. Safe schools for students and staff. Kids can't learn if they don't feel safe, and employees can't do their jobs if they don't feel safe either. That means secure buildings, facilities that are kept up, emergency plans everyone understands, and real backup when there's a discipline problem on campus. The people who work in our schools every day know first-hand the challenges and concerns so that's where I plan to start - we need to listen to them not just to identify problem area, but also to hear what their proposed solutions are. 

2. Fiscal responsibility and transparency. When the Board makes a promise, it needs to know how it's going to pay for it, not just this year but next year, the year after, and five and ten years down the road. I plan to scrutinize every budget line item, ask where the money is coming from, and push for the district to explain its finances in plain English so a regular taxpayer can follow it without an accounting degree. A sound budget is what pays for classroom supplies and better pay and keeps the district's word to its employees and taxpayers.

3. Competitive pay for teachers and school staff. Our schools run on people: teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and the rest of the support staff. Good people are hard to hire and easy to lose, and we lose too many to neighboring parishes. I'll push for a real look at what we pay and work toward raises the district can actually sustain. Suffice it to say, there are some that believe pay is competitive. I certainly don't, and I want to put pay and benefits front and center.

Pay is only part of it. Benefits people can afford, a workload that's reasonable, clear policies and expectations, fair treatment, and due process matter just as much. When an employee raises a concern, they deserve a straight answer, and they deserve to know that the agreements the district signed will be honored.

I've spent years at the bargaining table, and I've learned that good labor relations come down to two things: being prepared and talking to each other. When both sides understand the contract and problems get dealt with early instead of festering, everyone can get back to the actual work. I said that publicly when the Board moved to cancel the employees' collective bargaining agreement, and I'll say it again as a Board member, to the other members, to district leadership, and to the people who represent our employees.

I want to thank the Federation for its support. I'm running to represent every family and taxpayer in District 7, and supporting collective bargaining is one of the primary ways I intend to do that.

This article is also on my Facebook page. Let me know what you think.