(The Center Square) — Gov. Jeff Landry is seeking to cut $168 million from Louisiana’s public school funding formula to pay for one-time stipends for teachers and school support staff, arguing the state’s education system has enough money but has failed to prioritize classroom employees.
Landry signed an executive order Tuesday calling for a reduction in the Minimum Foundation Program, the state’s main K-12 education funding formula.
The money would be redirected to provide $2,000 stipends for classroom teachers and $1,000 stipends for support staff, who otherwise stood to lose the pay bump they have received in recent years instead of permanent raises.
“This action is not about temporary solutions, short-term patches, or another round of maybe next year,” Landry said at a press conference. “This executive order is the beginning of the structural reform, responsible budgeting, and respecting our teachers deserve.”
The order does not take effect automatically. Under the Louisiana Constitution, the governor may reduce the MFP appropriation only with written consent from two-thirds of the elected members of both the House and Senate.
The regular legislative session ended Monday, so lawmakers would have to submit their approval in writing. The state’s constitution says neither the governor nor Legislature may reduce the MFP except through means provided in the appropriations act and with written consent from two-thirds of each chamber.
House Bill 1 appropriates just over $4 billion to the MFP for the coming fiscal year. State education officials estimated the $168 million reduction would lower school districts’ state aid by an average of 4% to 5%.
Landry said the reduction would come from “non-instructional expenditures,” not classroom services.
“This order does not cut money from the classroom,” Landry said. “It does not reduce teacher salaries, and it does not raise taxes.”
The executive order directs the Department of Education, in consultation with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, to identify the allocations from which the reduction would be made. It also says the state should help districts keep security, transportation and food services intact, and suggests school systems use unassigned fund balances to replace reduced allocations where feasible.
Landry framed the move as a response to a long-running mismatch between rising education spending and stagnant teacher pay. His order says Louisiana’s K-12 enrollment has dropped by more than 111,000 students since 1988, while inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending has increased from about $9,400 to about $16,500.
“We do not have a revenue problem in this state,” Landry said. “We have a priorities problem.”
Last week, Landry helped author a resolution in the legislature that will convene a task force to study the MFP. That task force will work “to find a long-term fix so that teachers aren’t a political pawn every year,” a spokesperson for Landry told The Center Square.
The fight over teacher pay has lingered for several years. In 2025, Landry and the Legislature attempted to make the stipends permanent through a constitutional amendment that voters rejected. A similar effort failed again this year.
Those defeats left teachers and support staff without a dedicated funding source for permanent raises.
