Louisiana lawmakers passed a final budget that includes a $2,000 teacher pay raise and $1,000 raise for support workers, as well as $25 million in differential pay, which can be used to further increase salaries of teachers in hard-to-fill positions like math, science and special education.
Those raises, however, are not recurring, though lawmakers included wording to “urge and request” the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to include the raises again next year under the Minimum Foundation Program, a formula used to fund K-12 education. The Legislature would have to adopt that formula or specifically include the raises again in the budget next year.
The Legislature also allocated $44 million to early childhood education, falling short of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ goal of $52 million. The House originally didn’t include any money for early childhood education in the budget, and the Senate had only proposed $14 million in funding.
While the $44 million is much higher than previous numbers,thousands of children could still lose access to early childhood education programs. Early childhood education in Louisiana has been funded by $200 million in temporary federal COVID relief funding that expires this year.
One significant cut made during budget negotiations was $100 million to health care, a move made by lawmakers hours before the close of the 2023 session. Critics said Thursday that a large portion of Louisianans could lose health care coverage because of the cut. The Louisiana budget project issued a statement expressing concern over the budget, including the health care cut.
“If this is the best we can do, it’s not good enough,” the statement said.
The full budget details remain unclear. Three lawmakers from the House and three from the Senate spent most of the day on Thursday in a conference committee to resolve differences and reach a budget compromise.
Despite the end of a key debate on Wednesday between chambers about raising the state’s spending cap, lawmakers on the conference committee seemed to struggle to reach a compromise on how to spend that money. The spending cap dictates how much of the state’s surplus lawmakers can use. A large portion of that money is constitutionally required to go into savings like the rainy day fund, which several lawmakers have pointed out is at its highest amount in state history.
The conference committee released its budget deal with about a half hour left in the session.
That left several lawmakers confused about what the budget entails and frustrated with a shortage of time to look over the changes. Several were shouting at House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, over their irritation. They wanted to ensure their districts received funding for various infrastructure and pet projects.
“This meeting is unconstitutional,” Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, yelled from the House floor. “You have to follow the rules.”
In a press conference after the end of the session, Gov. John Bel Edwards expressed shock and concern about the health care cut. He said it was “ridiculous” for lawmakers to cut that funding with the state’s current fiscal situation. Louisiana has a $2.2 billion surplus this year.
He said he received no prior notice of the health care cuts and said he would do everything in his power to minimize or completely eliminate that cut.
Edwards seemed generally content with other areas of the budget, though he noted that the Legislature fell short of his goal to give all K-12 teachers a $3,000 pay raise and a $1,500 pay raise for all support workers.
“Certainly we could have afforded it,” Edwards said. “Now was the best time to do it to get to the southern regional average.”
When asked about whether he would veto three bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community, Edwards responded, “That is my expectation.”
Those bills include one banning discussion of gender and sexual orientation in all K-12 classrooms, which critics refer to as a “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The Legislature also passed a ban on gender-affirming health care for minors, and they passed a bill that would require parent permission for a teacher to use pronouns that differ from a student’s assigned sex at birth.
Edwards acknowledged what he called a “national playbook” of legislation on hot-button social issues. He noted that some issues are not even at play in Louisiana, likely referring to a study that shows no gender-affirming medical procedures were performed on minors in Louisiana between 2017-2021.
“I will tell you that on those issues, the judgment of history will be very clear,” Edwards said. “It will be as clear as the judgment of history has been on those who didn’t want civil rights in the 50s, for example. But I’m not going to wait until then to say it’s wrong. My judgment today is those bills are wrong.”
While Edwards gave a strong front, the bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community all passed with a veto-proof two-thirds vote. That doesn’t mean Edwards still can’t veto them, but it suggests the Legislature has the ability to override a veto.
Edwards also expressed disappointment in a failed bill that would have set a minimum wage of $10 and another bill that would have eliminated the death penalty. He has framed that legislation as pro-life.
