By Avery White | LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE – Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Tuesday to redirect $168 million from the administrative spending section of the public-school funding formula to pay for $2,000 teacher stipends for the 2026-27 academic year.
The executive order, which also includes $1,000 stipends for public-school support staff, would have to be approved by two-thirds of the state Legislature in a mail-in ballot. The $168 million figure does not include stipends for administrators, which would have raised the total cost to $200 million.
While Landy said he was unclear where school districts would have to cut spending to come up with the $168 million for the stipends, he said there was ample money to accomplish that goal since there is $1 billion in unassigned funds that school districts across the state have available.
The only areas of the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) that will not be touched are in transportation, security and food services, Landry said.
“Look, everyone I’ve talked to has said that there’s plenty enough money in the system,” Landry said. “In fact, there’s over a billion dollars in unassigned funds that school boards are sitting on. … Let me tell you, I’m separating teachers from the bureaucracy. Now we’re going to focus on those that matter the most, which are the teachers.”
The legislative session that ended Monday left the fate of teacher stipends in limbo, with no room made in the budget for that cost. Landry activated a rare political maneuver Tuesday to take money from the MFP – which earmarks money for the state’s public schools – to fund next year’s teacher stipends.
The executive order directs school districts and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to determine how to redirect the money.
“This does not cut money from the classrooms, this does not raise taxes,” Landry said. “It’s time for these school boards to tighten their belts and to put what they find in those teachers’ checks.”
Teachers and support staff have been receiving annual $2,000 and $1,000 stipends, respectively, for the last three years, but this year’s Revenue Estimation Conference showed an upcoming drop in state revenue, likely due to the recent cuts in taxes. That shortfall left the Legislature to scramble in tightening up the budget by shaving off expenses, such as the teacher stipends.
“We do not have a revenue problem, we have a priorities problem,” Landry said during a press conference Tuesday morning.
Before the gloomy recent revenue forecast was released, the Legislature already had anticipated the need to cut the expense and looked to replace the temporary payments with permanent pay raises through a constitutional amendment, which failed last month along with four other proposed amendments. The amendment looked to free up money for a permanent pay raise by liquidating three of the state’s education funds to pay off retirement debt.
While this plan for stipends covers only the 2026-27 academic year, the Legislature passed a resolution during session, backed by Landry’s executive order, creating a task force for joint members of the governor’s office, Legislature and education board to examine and recommend changes to the MFP formula.
The committee has a Dec. 31 deadline to adjust the formula, with the goal of making the budget more efficient and carving out a spot for permanent teacher pay raises, Landry said.
Nothing within the formula is off limits to be cut or adjusted Landry said during the press conference.
“This is a clean-slate evaluation with one priority: ensuring that our teachers and support staff come first,” Landry said. “We’re going to solve this without raising taxes. We’ll protect critical student services. We will deliver stability, not stipends, and we will not kick this can down the road ever again.”
During the press conference Landry highlighted the success Louisiana schools have had in raising in the state’s educational ranking. He said while teachers’ pay has decreased due to inflation, it should be increasing instead.
“When you keep going through the data, we should have the highest paid teachers in the South,” Landry said.
While the Legislature cannot make direct changes to the MFP, it can recommend changes for the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to implement.
Members of the Louisiana Republican delegation said in a press conference at the close of the session that they have heard support among their members for Landry’s executive order.
“This legislature has been supportive of our teachers at every corner,” said Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge.
In the name of governmental efficiency, Landry said he is asking school districts to do the same budgeting analysis that his state agencies had to do since he assumed office.
“When I took over as governor … we required our agencies to squeeze our budgets, which has allowed us to come back-to-back with static budgets,” Landry said. Those school boards have not done that. Hey, it’s time for you to tighten your belt and care about those that matter the most, which are our teachers.”