Finances: Teachers Salaries and Materials and Supplies

  1. Salaries in Segregated Public Schools

Despite the inequalities between Black and white public schools, the rate of pay for Black and white teachers remained consistent. Black teachers made slightly less money than white teachers during segregation but had to face overcrowded classrooms and fewer school sites. Following Brown, Black teachers saw a decrease in compensation compared to white teachers who received an increase. This change may have resulted from backlash or budgeting issues, but it is difficult to establish for certain given the available data. Black teachers continued seeing increased wages from 1957 to 1964. The late 1950s was where Black teachers saw the highest wage increases, though they never closed the wage gap with white teachers. As New Orleans gradually implemented integration during the early 1960s, all public school teachers saw pay increases.

2. Changes in Salaries in Integrated Schools

Not much changed following full integration for public school teacher salaries, Black or white. As budgets increased each school year, teachers received small pay raises. However, New Orleans public schools did not see additional school, building, or staff increases to alleviate the burden of overcrowded classrooms. 

3. Material and Supply Allocation in Segregated Public Schools

In New Orleans public schools, materials and supplies were either absent or not recorded in the early 1950s. The supplies were more widely available in white public schools for the remainder of the decade. Black public schools could not catch up with white counterparts until the late 1950s. Black students in public schools, plagued with a lack of available resources, struggled in the early years of integrated education. The early 1960s, before full integration in 1965, saw a shift in majority Black schools receiving more supplies than majority white schools. 

4. Changes to Materials and Supplies over Time

While Black public schools eventually saw an increase in classroom materials and supplies before integration, the general scale for the number of supplies received reflects a more considerable concern. Between the 1950s and mid-1960s, public schools’ materials and supplies were low compared to the late 1960s and 1970s. While this second period saw continued fluctuations of available materials and supplies in public schools, the number of available supplies was never as limited as during the 1950s. The number of materials and supplies for Black public schools was less than the combined total of Black and white public schools. Whether this is the result of smaller budgets or insufficient handling of funds, the 1950s marked an era of severe neglect of Black education in New Orleans.