BATON ROUGE - EBR Schools said they approved a doubled stipend for all employees in the district to match stipends from the state.

The school board unanimously approved a one-time stipend, EBR Schools said on their social media.

According to officials, all certified educators will receive a total of $4,000, while support staff will receive $2,000. This comes from a district-funded stipend that matches a state-funded stipend.

"So, for this to come through, you can almost say this was a blessing," Pamela Domino, a data specialist within the district, said.

"If we can't have a pay raise, a stipend helps, of course, because we are nowhere near the southern average. We still have work to get there, but at least the stipend does help in this economy to pay a few bills," Jaret Guidry said.

Superintendent Lamont Cole says a raise for staff is not in the budget for this year, but that is the goal in the future.

"We are doing things in a way we can do better so we can cut costs in hopes of providing a permanent raise for teachers because we know they deserve it, they need it, and we want to provide it for them," Cole said.

Some teachers may be eligible for a third stipend from the state called the Differentiated stipend, worth $1,100, given to address recruitment and retention.

"The differentiated stipends are going to be based on performance, so that's a little bit different, and that will go to those teachers in certain academic areas based on their performance at the end of the year or have completed some of the required professional development sessions in an effort to receive them, so that's going to be a little different."

EBR Schools say the stipends will be released on October 28 and November 17.