(The Center Square) – A taxpayer-funded program that provides Louisiana students with one-on-one or small-group tutoring several times a week would be expanded under a bill filed ahead of the 2026 legislative session.
The bill, filed by state Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, would extend eligibility to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Under current law, only grades kindergarten through fifth grade qualify for the program, known as “high-dosage” tutoring, that provides additional dollars to schools for tutoring students who are behind in literacy and math.
It is costing the state $30 million to serve around 178,000 students. Adding three grades would significantly expand the pool and cost an extra $15.2 million annually, according to the Louisiana Department of Education, although the number of additional students would depend on how many campuses meet the program’s criteria.
Advocates of spending more on tutoring point to the state’s low numbers in math and English. In 2025, 57% of Louisiana public school students scored below grade level in English language arts, failing to reach mastery on statewide tests such as LEAP. The math results were worse: 67% fell below grade level by the same measure.
Lawmakers have sought more money for other tutoring initiatives. The Steve Carter Tutoring Program, which provides vouchers to public school students, secured a funding boost in 2024 to expand from K-5 to K-12 and increase stipends from $1,000 to $1,500. It also widened the subjects covered by the program to offer numeracy alongside literacy. The expansion was estimated to cost at least $4.5 million annually.
The efforts are part of an aggressive push to improve Louisiana’s educational system, which has consistently been at the lower end of nationwide rankings.
They come alongside an increase in funding for the state’s Minimum Foundation Program, the roughly $4 billion formula that distributes K-12 money across Louisiana’s districts. Since 2021, its funding has risen by about $180 million, driven by initiatives tied to teacher recruitment and retention, tutoring and other academic support, student scholarships and additional course offerings. The amount the state is mandated to spend per student has also increased, a change that added about $74 million statewide.
One of the more expensive initiatives is the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise Scholarship Program, or LA GATOR, the voucher program that sends public school dollars to students who choose to attend private schools or homeschool.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s budget recommendation for the upcoming fiscal year includes adding $44.2 million to LA GATOR’s existing $43.5 million, bringing the total to nearly $88 million so it can serve more students.
The proposal is supported by the conservative Pelican Institute for Public Policy, who notes Louisiana spends $4 billion each year funding public schools, “with a core expectation that children will be taught to master reading, writing and math.”
“The fundamental question should be: How do we deploy those dollars to best empower parents to choose what fits their children best?” the Institute told The Center Square in a statement.
But the costs to fund the vouchers are expected to double each year, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, told a legislative budget panel in January.
Henry, whose chamber scaled back Landry’s expansion request last year, said in an interview that “GATOR as a whole just needs to be scrapped.”
Louisiana moved from 43rd to 32nd in the national rankings for the National Assessment of Education Progress, marking an 11-spot improvement. The NAEP measures proficiency in reading and math among fourth and eighth graders and Louisiana saw significant gains.
State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley attributed the gains in part to the high-dosage tutoring program, but said more work remains.
“Unfortunately, today, too many kids in the state can’t read on level, can’t do math on level, or are in a school that’s failing them, and those are things that we have to change.” Brumley said. “Improvement isn’t always linear. There are hills and valleys on the course to the peak.”
