LA. SCHOOL FUNDING - Louisiana House Republicans blocked passage of a $3.8 billion Louisiana public school financing formula during the House Education Committee meeting in Baton Rouge Tuesday. The K-12 funding proposal is backed by Governor John Bel Edwards. On a party-line vote, GOP members refused next year’s proposal submitted by Louisiana's top school board. Instead, they asked the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to remove $39 million of the $140 million increase. It all comes down to how much money the state should spend on each public school student next year. $1,000 teacher pay raises, on the other hand, have a strong backing. Committee Member - Representative Rick Edmonds (R-Baton Rouge).
“We’re in support of the teacher pay raise. We wish it was more,” said Representative Rick Edmonds (R-Baton Rouge).
Teacher pay raise and the extra $39 million in student funding are included in the Minimum Foundation Program, or MFP, a formula used to determine how much money the state spends on K-12 education. The final figure is determined by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, not the Legislature.
Representative Nancy Landry (R-Lafayette) Chair of the Education committee, moved to have the state board change the proposal; keep the teacher pay raise, but remove the $39 million increase to student funding.
“I’m prepared today to request that they reduce it to zero,” explained Landry.
The move got the support of Republicans on the committee, but drew opposition from Democrats. Larry Carter, President of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, warned committee members the money is needed for supplies and classroom improvements and without it, the burden falls on teachers.
"They’ll have to spend more of their personal hard-earned dollars on school supplies for their students. They’ll have to spend more time figuring out how to teach without an adequate curriculum or working computers."
The MFP now heads back to the state education board, who will reconsider the proposal over the next couple of weeks.
