A year after Louisiana lawmakers by promising to return this spring and permanently raise K-12 teacher salaries, House lawmakers advanced a spending package that includes raises for only some teachers and cuts early childhood education.
The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday agreed to fund controversial "differential" pay increases for certain high-need teaching roles plus $1,300 one-time stipends for all teachers, significantly less than the $2,000 bonuses teachers received last year.
To realize the teacher stipends and other new education system costs, the committee's spending plan cuts $24 million in day care subsidies for children under 4 years old 鈥 which will affect over 1,900 infants and toddlers currently receiving those services, advocates said.
The package, which moves now to the full House, bucks an earlier budget proposal by Gov. Jeff Landry that would have kept day care subsidies at current levels, a cost of $87.7 million.
Lawmakers making the first round of tweaks to Landry's budget said they had juggled pressure over making good on the promise of permanent teacher raises against the backdrop of a potential massive revenue hole next year when a temporary sales tax falls off the state's books. And they said Landry's earlier proposal would have provided about $94 million less than what was needed to fully fund the $4.1 billion K-12 education formula, which grew due to the teacher raise proposal and other new costs.听
The committee also slashed the early childhood education programs in order to offset dollars that had previously come from the federal government, a loss the executive budget backfilled with state dollars.
鈥淲e always love taking the federal dollars, but then when it鈥檚 time to keep the program going, we are tasked with finding the state general fund dollars to do that,鈥 said the House Appropriations Committee Chair, Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Winnfield.
Libbie Sonnier, of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, told lawmakers that aside from jeopardizing children currently enrolled in the early education programs, 6,500 children are on waitlists for that care.
Sonnier said she was disappointed that 鈥渢he young children of Louisiana are first on the chopping block.鈥
McFarland said the early childhood money could be added back into the budget if the Revenue Estimating Conference recognizes extra tax inflow at its next meeting.
Teachers in high-need roles chosen to receive the so-called "differential" money will get cash both from that funding increase and from the additional $1,300 stipend. Teacher unions have historically opposed giving raises to some educators but not others, arguing that uniform raises are more fair.
Teachers who receive the differential increases this year also risk losing them in the future if they switch to other roles or if school boards decide to allocate the additional cash to different positions allowed by state government.
Cynthia Posey, legislative director for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, one of the state鈥檚 main teacher unions, said teacher pay has failed to keep up with rapid inflation. She pointed to a comment made by State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley during a Tuesday House committee meeting that acknowledged the consumer price index has increased by 44% over the last decade and a half.
Teachers 鈥渞eally can鈥檛 afford to remain in the profession,鈥 Posey said.
She also pointed to the state鈥檚 teacher shortage, which she said will likely only worsen without permanent raises.
The budget approved by the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday also featured an additional $15 million for state grants for fortified roofs, a program touted as a key solution to the state's property insurance crisis.听It also featured another $21.9 million for the state's Department of Transportation and Development for maintenance and repairs; $10.8 million for Louisiana State Police for Landry's proposed establishment of a New Orleans-specific unit; and $6.9 million for the Department of Children and Family Services' congregate foster care programs, among other proposals, McFarland said.听
Also featured in the spending package was $3.5 million for a federal summer food program for children that Landry's administration had earlier this year, forgoing more than $70 million in matching funds.
The deadline to notify the feds of a state's intent to take advantage of money from the Summer EBT program for this summer was Jan. 1. But states can request a waiver to implement the program this year, a USDA spokesperson said last week.
Approval "would be assessed on a case-by-case basis," the spokesperson said.
Lawmakers bucked recent tradition on the supplemental spending bill, House Bill 782, by not allocating surplus tax collections toward coastal restoration projects. A key coastal restoration fund currently has $1.3 billion, McFarland said, and lawmakers felt that the money should begin flowing to projects before it's replenished.
Staff writers Elyse Carmosino and Andrea Gallo contributed to this report.
