Here’s the details of Louisiana’s 2024-2025 state budget plan. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator).
The Louisiana Legislature has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to infrastructure projects and maintaining teacher pay in the state budget plan that goes into effect July 1.
Lawmakers also backed Gov. Jeff Landry’s tough-on-crime agenda with money for adult prisons, juvenile justice services and a state police expansion.
Landry has about three weeks to veto portions of the state budget that he doesn’t like. Legislators are unlikely to challenge him if he does so, as veto overrides are rare in Louisiana.
Here’s a rundown of where legislators committed state money:
K-12 teachers, school support staff
Teachers will receive a $2,000 one-time payment and school support staff will get a $1,000 stipend next school year. The total cost of the stipend is $199 million.
Lawmakers decided against a permanent raise because they said the state will face a large deficit next year. The expected budget shortfall might mean teachers and other school staff could lose the stipend — and possibly see their pay cut.
In addition to the stipends, legislators allocated $17.5 million for differential pay, which allows school districts to pay more money to teachers in hard-to-fill positions. Officials have said educators have been hard to find for special education, science and math as well as at schools with large low-income student bodies.
Road and bridge repair
The state is putting $390 million toward repairs for existing roads and bridges. Legislators say the funding is for “shovel ready” construction and won’t be used for planning or design purposes.
Money for these transportation needs comes from $717 million legislators withdrew from a state savings account.
Early childhood education seats reduced
Lawmakers reduced funding for early childhood education by $9 million from the current year. Advocates said this will reduce the number of program slots by 800 seats. Over the past few years, state lawmakers have typically provided enough funding for 16,000 seats annually.
In an interview, House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, questioned whether babies and younger toddlers benefit from early education. He said he agreed such programs could help children who were 3 and 4 years old, but he wasn’t sure the state needed to spend money on babies and toddlers.
Youth prisons and jails
In keeping with the governor’s focus on tackling crime, lawmakers agreed to make a major investment in youth prisons and jails.
They took approximately $100 million out of a state savings account to upgrade state and local facilities that hold incarcerated youth. Specific facilities receiving the funds will be announced later this year.
Local law enforcement officials will also receive $1.2 million more to hold incarcerated teenagers. Their daily reimbursement rate for holding juveniles is going up, though the exact amount isn’t provided in state budget documents.
On top of those increases, the state Office of Juvenile Justice is receiving $11.3 million to pay for a private security detail and $5.8 million to hire 70 more people to work at the Swanson Center for Youth prison in the Monroe area.
Legislators also allocated $1.9 million toward truancy programs around the state.
Pay boosts for state troopers, wildlife agents, judges
Three major groups of state employees will see boosts in their pay.
Lawmakers have agreed to increase salaries for state police ($9 million) and Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents ($4 million). Patrol personnel in state police will also see a wage increase for working “abnormal hours” from 50 cents to $5 more per hour, costing the state $3.3 million.
All judges — from the Louisiana Supreme Court down to city court level — will be allowed to use their own funding for a one-year pay stipend as long as they agree to complete an independent study of judges’ workloads across the state court system.
Roof fortifications
Lawmakers put $15 million more toward a roof fortification program for homeowners started last year. Louisiana residents can draw down grants to help improve their roofs and hopefully lower their homeowner insurance rates.
The program was expected to help 2,500 households last year with $25 million, according to budget documents.
Criminal justice in New Orleans
Legislators agreed to continue funding one of the governor’s top priorities – new public safety initiatives in New Orleans.
They put $10 million toward staff for a new state police troop in New Orleans, referred to as Troop NOLA. Attorney General Liz Murrill is also receiving $5 million to help with the prosecution of criminal cases in New Orleans, including those Troop NOLA handles.
Additionally, lawmakers allocated $7.4 million toward upgrades and additional staffing for crime labs across the state.
Higher education deferred maintenance
Legislators took $94.3 million out of a state savings account to pay for maintenance projects at Louisiana’s public universities and colleges, which have a $2 billion backlog of infrastructure shortfalls.
The governor and lawmakers also put $41.7 million toward various higher education initiatives. This includes Pennington Biomedical faculty incentives ($3 million), Grambling State University’s athletic program ($700,000) and University of Louisiana-Monroe building improvements ($50,000).
Landry’s cabinet raises
Gov. Jeff Landry gave 11 of his 14 cabinet members salary increases, effective July 1. He recommended six receive at least $20,000 more in compensation than their immediate predecessors.
The largest salary bump went to Tyler Gray, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources, who previously ran one of the state’s largest oil and gas lobby organizations. His annual pay will go from $139,734 to $200,000 — an increase of more than $60,000.
Water and sewerage system upgrades
Legislators took $75 million from a state savings account to continue to upgrade local water and sewerage systems around the state. This comes on the heels of legislators putting hundreds of millions of dollars into the same types of projects in 2022 and 2023.
Domestic violence shelters
Lawmakers restored $7 million for domestic violence shelters after Landry initially cut those programs out of his budget proposal earlier this year.
The money will add shelter beds in harder-to-reach parts of the state and supplement existing children’s programs.
Governor’s public records attorneys
The governor’s office is getting an additional $1 million to hire three attorneys to deal with public records requests. Landry has complained that his staff is inundated with requests for government documents.
On top of the extra money, legislators approved two bills that limit the information about the governor’s office that can be given out to the public. The first allows the governor to deny more records requests when the information is deemed a security risk. The second requires people who request information from the governor’s office to be Louisiana residents.
Tutoring programs
Lawmakers are funding a few different tutoring programs for public school students in the coming year. They put $30 million toward high-dosage tutoring, targeted for students falling behind academically.
The Steve Carter Education Program, which tackles literacy and basic math, was provided $7.5 million. An additional $2 million will go toward funding internships and apprenticeships for public school students.
Nursing homes
Landry increased funding going to the state’s 270 nursing homes by $34.5 million in the state budget this year.
Nursing homes have state constitutional protections that make it difficult to reduce their funding. The state also requires their Medicaid reimbursement rates per bed to be increased on a regular basis, even if health care services overall are facing cuts or at a standstill.
Home health workers
Nighttime home health care workers who assist people with disabilities and their families will receive a pay raise from $13 to $18 per hour. The state will put up $10 million to draw down $31 million in federal funding.
The Medicaid rate given to care facilities that provide 24-hour care for people with disabilities will also increase, costing the state $5 million that will draw down $10.6 million from the federal government.
The state will also spend $13 million to provide 40 more therapeutic program slots for foster children.
Pet projects
Legislators put $92.7 million toward projects that benefit local government services and nonprofits in their home districts that typically would not receive state funding. In the past, these have included golf courses, etiquette organizations, Catholic churches and local Knights of Columbus chapters.
They allocated the money despite the fact that the state may have to claw back $103.5 million in pet project spending from previous years because the organizations receiving the money didn’t say how they spent it.
An additional $165 million for pet projects from previous years sits in state bank accounts because organizations and local governments have not submitted the initial paperwork that allows the state to release it.
Summer food program
Lawmakers put $4 million toward a summer feeding program for children that could draw down more than $70 million from the federal government and get food to hundreds of thousands of children.
The Landry administration initially declined to participate in the federal initiative, which increases the food assistance low-income families receive by $10 per week per child in June and July. The allocation goes up to account for the fact that children aren’t in school and don’t benefit from government breakfast and lunch programs.
While the governor initially didn’t join the summer food program, lawmakers insisted the state take part. They said the money would benefit children in Louisiana and result in more spending at local grocery stores.
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