Gov. Landry says teachers will avoid pay cut, but not where he will find the money

Gov. Jeff Landry was adamant Tuesday that Louisiana public school teachers would not see a pay cut in the upcoming school year, but he did not specify where he would find the nearly $200 million needed to avoid it.

“I think the teachers deserve certainty. They deserve stability. They deserve respect and a permanent pay raise,” Landry said at a State Capitol news conference. 

The governor said he won’t release details about where the money to restore teacher pay will come from until after the Louisiana Legislature’s lawmaking session ends Monday. He said he wants the final copy of the state budget, which the legislature will approve before it adjourns, before he makes that decision. 

Landry and the legislature are also forming a task force to look at rearranging existing K-12 school funding so teachers are not threatened with a pay cut again after the 2026-27 school year. 

Officials will target the state’s school funding formula, called the Minimum Foundation Program, for an overhaul to direct more money toward teacher compensation over the long term. It currently contains more than $4 billion in state funding.

“There is no way we can’t find a permanent pay raise in those dollars,” Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said at the governor’s news conference. 

The governor and legislators will have to work closely with the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on any reworking on the Minimum Foundation Program. The state school board has more direct authority over it than the governor or lawmakers. 

Landry’s insistence that teachers will not see their pay reduced this year was a dramatic departure from what legislators had publicly settled on last week.

For the past three years, the legislature has provided $2,000 and $1,000 stipends to K-12 teachers and school support staff, respectively.

The governor and lawmakers had been relying on voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would have dissolved public education funds to provide a permanent teacher salary hike. When the amendment failed in the May 16 election, Landry and legislators didn’t have an immediate backup plan to replace that money. 

Over the past several days, Henry and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, had repeatedly said  they weren’t able to provide another round of educators stipends this year because of the state’s financial and legal constraints.

But those previous statements from Henry and McFarland came while the governor was in Greenland as a special envoy for President Donald Trump and out of touch with legislative leadership.

Now that Landry has returned, legislative leaders reversed themselves and said they are committed to coming up with the money to restore teacher pay with the governor. 

“[W]ith the Governor’s commitment expressed today to working with our members, we believe that with constitutional guidelines we can forge a path to providing properly appropriated, recurring funds to pay the teachers stipends in this coming year,” Henry and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, said in a joint statement Tuesday. 

Louisiana has 51,000 public school teachers and approximately 40,000 school support workers. In order to provide the stipends again, Landry and lawmakers will need to come up with almost $200 million in the state budget plan that goes into effect July 1.

Landry implied Tuesday the resolution to the teacher pay shortfall for the coming year might not be made anytime soon.

“The good news is we’ve got plenty of time, right? This stipend is not paid out until December,” he said.

Legislators and teacher advocates said they would be looking for the governor to provide more information about those pay raises sooner rather than later.

“While it’s an important step, commitments are one thing but have an actual funding plan is another,” said Larry Carter, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, on Tuesday.

The day before before the governor’s press conference, four legislators said they had been told the governor wanted to redirect $150 million that would normally go toward school operations toward another year of stipends. The money would come from the state funding that gets distributed to K-12 schools through the Minimum Foundation Program.

The legislators said the governor expected to issue an executive order asking the legislature to agree to draw down the $150 million after their session concludes Monday. Two-thirds of each chamber would have to approve the reallocation through a mail-in ballot, according to the lawmakers.

The legislators who outlined the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not given permission to speak about the proposal publicly. They included two state representatives and two senators, three of whom are Republicans and one a Democrat.

During the press conference Tuesday, Landry wouldn’t confirm that he is looking redirecting the $150 million from the Minimum Foundation Program to restore teacher pay.

It’s also not clear whether Landry has enough support in the legislature to approve the proposal that was floated. Democratic and Republican caucuses were briefed on the plan Monday evening.

Advocates for public school teachers have also suggested state lawmakers take $200 million out of a state savings account called the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund to extend the stipends for another year. Landry, Henry and McFarland said this fund can’t be tapped to supplement teacher pay because it’s a recurring expense that can’t be paid for with one-time money taken from a reserve fund.

Legislators already have plans to withdraw $800 million from the trust fund to pay roads, bridges, economic development incentives and legislators’ pet projects in their home districts.

This is a developing story.