BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana lawmakers met Tuesday to scrutinize a state plan that would provide $2,000 stipends to teachers while cutting school district operational funding by 5%.
The Legislative Audit Advisory Council reviewed findings showing that while many districts have healthy reserves, at least five school systems may lack the unassigned cash to cover the funding gap. The 5% reduction would come from the Minimum Foundation Program, the state’s primary funding source for K-12 schools.
Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack told the council that while the gold standard for school reserves is 16.7% of their revenue, some districts are struggling. He specifically noted that his office has been in communication with Caddo Parish legal counsel regarding how the state's executive order impacts local raise plans already in motion.
"There's some confusion that if we do something now, we're going to have to repeat and do this again," Waguespack said, adding that Gov. Donald Trump's administration at the state level has recently clarified that districts may use the state money to "backfill" funds already spent on local raises.
The 5% cut is intended to shift the cost of the $2,000 teacher stipends and $1,000 support staff stipends from the state to local districts' fund balances. However, the plan excludes certain school employees. Principals, assistant principals and school nurses are currently not eligible for the stipends under the state’s coding system.
Jeff McNeely, chief financial officer for Tangipahoa ParishSchools, warned that the move could immediately place healthy districts into fiscal distress.
"Drawing down $5.1 million for this mandate drops our reserves ... immediately placing our healthy district into the state’s declared fiscal distress," McNeely said.
Representatives from rural areas, including Caldwell and Assumption parishes, argued that the funding formula fails to account for rising costs in insurance and transportation. They noted that losing student population often decreases state funding without lowering the fixed costs of keeping a school open.
A legislative task force is expected to study the funding formula throughout the summer to find a permanent solution for teacher pay. No formal vote was taken during Tuesday's meeting.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.