Some Louisiana teachers will receive bonuses of more than $50,000 after increased tax revenue from Meta’s nearby data center.
Richland Parish Chamber of Commerce founder Scott Franklin said that “vested, certified teachers,” will receive the $50,900 bonuses, the Shreveport Times reported. These payouts may be larger than some of the teachers’ salaries — which range from around $29,000 to $52,000 in the Richland Parish School District, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Other teachers and staff will revive bonuses of up to $17,000. In 2025, the maximum bonus for the rural Richland Parish School District was $10,200, the outlet reported.
The annual payouts are determined by sales tax collection, which in parish have skyrocketed since Meta began construction in 2024 on a $27 billion data center, according to the Shreveport Times. Sales tax collections are expected to increase for the next three to five years during the construction of the Meta data center known as Hyperion, but it is not certain that this year’s mega-bonuses will reoccur.
Richland Parish School District did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Meta referred the DCNF to a X post from Dina Powell McCormick, Meta’s president and vice chair of social media.
“Truly proud to work with all our partners in Richland Parish — and especially the dedicated teachers who are investing in a generation of students and who remind us that the Future is for Everyone,” McCormick, who is married to Republican Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick, said in the post.
Richland Parish brought in $42.9 million in sales and use tax, more than double of last year, and Meta made a $22.4 million tax payment to the parish in May, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Our hope is that teachers across the state and the South see this and want to teach in Richland Parish,” Franklin said, according to the Shreveport Times.
Nearby districts will also receive higher employee bonuses, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The bonus comes after data centers have been facing serious backlash as multiple towns voted to ban or rebuke the projects. Other towns have also issued temporary or indefinite bans on data center construction.
Many residents around the country are opposed to the building of data centers because of energy needs, environmental issues and water issues. Data centers can consume as much water as a small town. A Gallup poll found that seven in ten Americans oppose artificial intelligence data centers being built nearby them.
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Republished with permission from Daily Caller News Foundation
