By: Julie O’Donoghue | Louisiana Illuminator
Gov. Jeff Landry wants to use $150 million normally dedicated to K-12 school operations to replace a $2,000 stipend public school teachers were expected to lose this coming year, according to four Louisiana lawmakers familiar with the plan.
The governor has proposed taking money normally distributed to public school districts through a funding formula called the Minimum Foundation Program and using it for teacher compensation.
The legislators who spoke about the governor’s proposition did not want to be named because they did not have permission to talk about it publicly. They included two senators and two state representatives, three of them Republicans and one Democrat.
The plan will require Landry to issue an executive order after the Louisiana Legislature’s session has finished June 1. Two-thirds of state lawmakers in each chamber also have to approve moving the money, with a vote taking place by mail-in ballot.
The governor’s office declined to comment or provide more details on the proposal Monday night. Landry has scheduled a news conference for 11:30 a.m. Tuesday with legislative leaders to discuss a “teacher pay raise,” according to an announcement Monday afternoon from his office.
Public school teachers and support staff have been receiving temporary annual pay stipends of $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, for the last three years. But Landry and lawmakers haven’t included funding for that compensation in the state budget plan that takes effect July 1.
Instead, the governor was relying on voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would have dissolved public education trust funds to provide a permanent teacher salary hike. When the amendment failed in the May 16 election, Landry and legislators didn’t have a backup plan to replace that money.
Now, Landry wants to take $150 million from the more than $4 billion school districts receive through the state’s school funding formula.
The money would come from approximately $1.2 billion in the formula that goes to “non-instructional programs” such as school administration, business services, facility acquisitions, construction and other spending that happens outside of classrooms, according to the lawmakers.
The $150 million is not enough to cover the previously-given stipends, which have cost the state $198 million annually. The lawmakers said some certified teachers who don’t work in the classroom and function as administrators would no longer receive the money under Landry’s proposal.
Larry Carter, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, said Monday night he was cautiously optimistic the governor and legislators were working on a solution to the teacher pay cut. He said he wanted to learn more details about the proposal but called it “a step in the right direction.”
At least one lawmaker said Landry would likely remove pay raises planned for other state employees, including prison guards and firefighters, if teachers saw a pay cut this year. The governor has the ability to veto individual items, such as pay hikes for certain classes of employees, out of the budget if he wants.