Gov. Jeff Landry makes private school funding a priority for public funds in his latest budget proposal. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
Gov. Jeff Landry wants to spend nearly $100 million in state funding on private education for K-12 students in the 2025-26 school year, while public school teachers could see a pay cut unless voters approve a constitutional amendment next month, according to a budget his staff gave to legislators Thursday.
The governor’s proposal for next fiscal year more than doubles the amount of money available for K-12 private school tuition and other private education expenses. L
ouisiana spent $46.3 million this year on a decade-old private school voucher program that uses public dollars to send low-income students primarily to parochial Catholic schools. Landry intends to take that money and add $50 million more during the 2025-26 school year.
The $96.3 million would be the base funding for the inaugural run of the LA GATOR scholarship. The program will give state-backed grants to families to cover private school tuition, uniforms, computers and other expenses. The existing voucher program, which was restricted to tuition costs, will end after this year.
LA GATOR is part of the private education savings account policy sweeping conservative states across the country.
With the addition of $50 million, Louisiana will be able to nearly double the number of students receiving tax dollars to pay for their private K-12 education. There are 6,600 children enrolled in the state’s current voucher program. The extra money would allow 5,358 more students to receive support through LA GATOR, Deputy Commissioner of Administration Patrick Goldsmith said.
Those eligible for the LA GATOR grant next school year include students in the legacy voucher program, children entering kindergarten, children enrolled in a public school and students from families earning 250% or less of the federal poverty line. That ceiling would be $64,550 for a family of three in Louisiana, based on 2024 figures.
The application period for LA GATOR scholarships for the 2025-26 school year opens March 1.
Meanwhile, state funding for public school teacher pay is far less certain.
Teachers and school support staff have received stipends of $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, for the past two years. Landry and legislators have committed to making those increases permanent, but only if voters approve a sweeping constitutional rewrite of Louisiana’s tax and budget policy in a March 29 election.
The teacher stipends cost about $200 million annually, and the constitutional amendment will free up most of the funding needed to keep them going indefinitely, Landry’s staff and lawmakers have said.
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Yet not all public school districts will be able to afford the full $2,000 and $1,000 amounts even if the amendment passes. Public charter schools also won’t see the same financial benefit from the proposed tax amendment and will not automatically get funding to give their staff higher pay.
Assuming the amendment passes, Commissioner of Administration Taylor Barras said the governor intended to help pay for teachers salaries in public school districts that might not be able to keep higher salaries in place otherwise.
“It is hard to go to the public and ask for a teacher pay raise if everyone is not getting one,” Barras said during the budget presentation.
He was less certain about whether charter schools would get money to help keep their teacher pay at the same level.
“Will we be working to also ensure that there is commitment to cover teachers that are in charter schools?” Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, asked during Thursday’s hearing.
“That is a clarification that we will get back to you,” Barras responded.
After the meeting Thursday, Landry tweeted that public charter school teachers would get to keep their $2,000 pay bumps as long as the constitutional amendment passes next March.
The governor’s budget proposal also continues several education initiatives started like special tutoring programs, apprenticeships and pay stipends for hard-to-fill teacher positions in areas such as math, science and special education. Together, these programs cost between $45 million and $50 million last year.
In his proposed 2025-26 budget, Landry has early childhood education programs receiving as much money as they do this year but $9 million less than last year. Advocates for early childhood education said the cut reduced the number of seats offered to children by 800 statewide in the current budget cycle.
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