Landry teacher stipend plan back on after judge scraps lawsuit on technicality

Gov. Jeff Landry can move forward with his strategy to cut public school operations funding to provide another round of teacher pay stipends this year after a Baton Rouge judge threw out an order Monday that was preventing the plan from moving forward.

Judge Richard “Chip” Moore of the 19th Judicial District Court lifted a temporary restraining order blocking Landry’s education funding strategy. Moore said Baker Donelson, the law firm representing the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, could not be involved with the case without Landry’s permission because it also represents the governor and the state in federal litigation over foster care. 

“It all starts with him,” Moore said, referring to the governor. 

Louisiana’s Deputy Solicitor General Zack Faircloth, who works for the attorney general’s office, accused Baker Donelson of “sandbagging” the governor by agreeing to take the education funding case without consulting him.

The judge did not address whether Landry has the constitutional authority to cut K-12 schools funding for a teacher pay stipend through an executive order. The plaintiffs, three longtime education advocates, argued the governor was overextending his powers by doing so. 

Greg Beuermann, a spokesman for the plaintiffs, said they may consider filing another lawsuit with new legal representation. But that would have to be done before Wednesday, when Landry’s plan for cutting school funding takes effect, Beuermann said. 

Legal documents the plaintiffs filed show that Baker Donelson started advising “a client” about a potential lawsuit over Landry’s education funding plan June 2. Faircloth said the firm didn’t tell the governor they would be involved in the lawsuit until June 17.

Barbara Irwin, an attorney with Baker Donelson, argued her firm was covered under a waiver Landry signed in 2023 when he was attorney general. It allows the firm to take on cases that are “adverse to the state” even while handling the child welfare case, she said.

Baker Donelson currently represents clients in 50 other cases against the state government, and the attorney general’s office has never raised concern over a potential conflict of interest in any other matter, Irwin said.

Faircloth responded that the education funding case is different from the others because it involves “personal accusations launched at the governor.”

The judge sided with Faircloth, saying that the waiver Landry signed for Baker Donelson as attorney general did not carry over to his role as governor, which he started in January 2024.

Once the judge ruled Bake Donelson’s representation out of order, another attorney seated behind the plaintiffs’ bench stood up and tried to step in as substitute legal counsel. Moore immediately scuttled that attempt. The attorney declined to give a reporter his name before leaving the courtroom. 

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are former Baker school superintendent Michael Faulk, former state school board member Belinda Davis and current Orleans Parish School Board member Katherine Baudouin.

Besides Landry, the other defendants in the case were Louisiana’s Department of Education, state Education Superintendent Cade Brumley, Louisiana’s Division of Administration, Commissioner of Administration Taylor Barras, Louisiana’s Department of Treasury and state Treasurer John Fleming. 

This is a developing story.