Gov. Jeff Landry and legislative leaders on Tuesday announced a plan that could eventually lead to permanent raises for public school teachers and support workers.
Senate President Cameron Henry and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier will introduce a resolution to study and develop a new Minimum Foundation Program formula. The MFP is the primary state funding formula for public elementary and secondary schools.
A 15-member bipartisan task force will be convened to conduct a “top-to-bottom review” of the MFP and develop a “long-term, sustainable funding structure for teacher pay raises.”
“The goal is for the task force to complete their task by Dec. 31,” Henry said in a Tuesday morning press conference.
The task force will include legislative leaders, BESE representatives, educators, school system officials and business leaders, according to the governor’s office.
In each of the past three years, public school teachers and support workers have received one-time stipends of $2,000 and $1,000, respectively.
“For too many years, Louisiana’s teachers and support workers have been told, ‘Next year, we’ll find the money. Next year, we’ll finally give you the permanent pay raise you deserve.’ … This Legislature and I are not going to kick the can down the road anymore,” Landry said Tuesday.
The announcement comes just over a week after voters rejected Constitutional Amendment No. 3, which would have dissolved three education trust funds and used the money to pay down retirement debt and give public school teachers and support workers permanent raises of $2,250 and $1,125 per year, respectively.
There are currently 51,000 public school teachers and 40,000 support workers across Louisiana. The average K-12 teacher salary in Louisiana was $55,911 in the 2023-24 school year, compared to the regional average of $61,847, according to the latest available data from the Southern Regional Education Board.
Lawmakers in recent weeks have weighed proposals to give themselves and statewide elected officials their own pay raises. But after voters rejected Constitutional Amendment No. 3, Landry wrote on X that if teachers aren’t getting a raise, nobody should.
“If our teachers don’t get a permanent raise this year, nobody in state government gets a pay raise,” Landry wrote. “I mean nobody.”
Economic trade-off
