BATON ROUGE, La. – Mary Ann Adams and other Concordia Parish teachers who traveled to the state Capitol to picket for a pay raise Wednesday aren’t just concerned about how they will make ends meet now.

They are also concerned about how Louisiana’s school districts will attract enough teachers to make up for those who will retire in the foreseeable future.

&uot;In the next few years, the baby boomers will retire and, with pay the way it is, we’re not going to be able to attract more teachers,&uot; said Adams, one of about 200 Concordia Parish teachers and school support workers who attended the rally. &uot;Many districts can’t find enough certified teachers as it is.&uot;

&uot;The governor has said that if teachers strike it will be a death knoll to education,&uot; said Sheila Lanius, who teaches at Vidalia Lower Elementary. &uot;But if we don’t get raises, that is what’s going to be the death knoll.&uot;

In addition, Lanius and Janet Vaught, a kindergarten teacher in Ferriday, do not believe the state can’t find a way to fund the raises, even with a more than $200 million budget shortfall expected for the next fiscal year.

&uot;We appreciate that the state doesn’t have a lot of money, but you see in the papers where the state is giving it out left and right needlessly,&uot;&160;Vaught said. &uot;Other states have done it — we need to find out how.&uot;

&uot;That’s what (lawmakers) get the big bucks for, to make those kinds of tough decisions,&uot; Lanius said.

Vaught’s fellow teachers nodded as she talked of barely being able to pay the tuition, room and board of her three college-age children.

&uot;It’s a sad situation when you can’t make enough teaching to pay (college) loans back,&uot; Vaught said. &uot;I didn’t choose to be a missionary. I&160;just chose to be a teacher.&uot;

Billie Maples, cafeteria manager at Vidalia High School and an employee of the Concordia School District for 19 years, said she knows many school workers who hold down two jobs just to make ends meet.

When teachers get a raise, said some at the rally, there are often strings attached, such as teacher evaluations to undergo or more courses to take.

&uot;They’ve added more minutes to the school day and given us so much paperwork that teachers can’t have a life,&uot; said Pam Ganey, an elementary teacher in Monterey whose daughter plans to leave Louisiana to teach in another state for more money.

&uot;They say teachers get off work so early, … but we’re never really through.&uot;

For others, like school bus drivers, it is a question of being paid enough to cover the expenses of the job itself. Fuel costs are rising and many newer drivers face insurance costs Rose Tillery calls &uot;outrageous.&uot;

&uot;Our operational expense has tripled,&uot; said Tillery, president of the Concordia Parish School Bus Drivers’ Association.

For others, getting a raise is simply a matter of justice.

&uot;We’re tired of working for pennies,&uot;&160;said Inez White, who works at Vidalia Lower Elementary. &uot;I&160;hope this (rally) makes a difference.&uot;

Mildred Carter, also of Vidalia Lower Elementary, said the low rate of pay makes her feel undervalued, &uot;like a professional babysitter.&uot;

The point of Wednesday’s rally was to get a raise for teacher and support employees, but for Vaught and her fellow Concordia Parish school employees, the rally had other positive effects as well.

&uot;Teacher morale has been low for months now, but today we’re standing up and getting respect,&uot; Vaught said, standing near the top of the Capitol steps. &uot;Today, I’m proud to be a teacher.&uot;