BATON ROUGE, La. — Two former Louisiana state senators are opposing a proposal backed by Gov. Jeff Landry to eliminate a long-standing education trust fund in favor of funding teacher pay raises.
The proposal, tied to State Constitutional Amendment 3 on the May 16 ballot, would dissolve the Educational Excellence Fund and two other education-related trust funds. The plan is intended to provide teachers with pay increases of about $130 per month.
Foster Campbell, now a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, and former Senate President Randy Ewing said the approach would undermine a financial structure designed to provide long-term support for education.
“The idea was wrong then, and it’s still wrong,” Campbell said, referring to a similar proposal rejected by voters last year.
Campbell said he helped establish the Educational Excellence Fund in 1999 while serving in the state Senate. The fund was created using proceeds from Louisiana’s tobacco settlement and structured to preserve its principal while allowing interest earnings to be spent on education initiatives.
Ewing said the fund originally received $1 billion from the state’s $4 billion tobacco settlement, with safeguards intended to ensure its sustainability.
“The beauty of the plan was that we protected the fund principal and only allowed spending of the interest,” Ewing said.
The fund currently holds a principal balance of about $482 million and distributes annual grants to public, charter and nonpublic schools for programs such as early childhood education and remedial instruction. Approximately $77 million is available for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Ewing said previous administrations also tapped into the fund, including actions under former Gov. Bobby Jindal in 2011 to support the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students. Despite those withdrawals, he said, the fund has remained intact.
Under the current proposal, Campbell and Ewing said nearly $2 billion in education-related trust funds approved by voters could be eliminated.
Campbell compared the plan to prior efforts by former governors to access dedicated funds during budget pressures.
“There must be something about a trust fund in state government that proves too much for governors to resist when they need easy money,” Campbell said.
Campbell also pointed to a similar model he created in Bossier Parish in 1985, which uses dedicated revenue streams to fund local schools while preserving principal. He said that fund has grown to about $72 million.
Both former lawmakers said they support increasing teacher pay but oppose using the education trust funds to do so.
“Where we disagree with the governor is how it should be done,” Ewing said. “Certainly not at the expense of a proven, self-sustaining program that has benefitted Louisiana education for a quarter century.”