With the 2026 Regular Session set to adjourn today, June 1, Gov. Jeff Landry, Senate President Cameron Henry, and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier held a joint press conference last Tuesday to address how to keep teacher pay whole this year and how to fund permanent raises going forward.
For the past three years, the Legislature has provided $2,000 stipends to public school teachers and $1,000 to support workers, at an annual cost of about $198 million. The budget plan advanced by the Legislature did not include funding to continue them, and after voters rejected Constitutional Amendment 3 on May 16 — which would have established a permanent funding mechanism for educator and support staff raises — the path forward was unclear. Landry committed to ensuring teachers do not see a pay cut this year but declined to specify a funding source until lawmakers finalized the state budget. Henry indicated that one option under consideration is redirecting roughly $150 million from the Minimum Foundation Program, drawn from the formula’s $1.2 billion non-instructional portion rather than classroom dollars — a proposal that drew concerns from school administrators about district operational impacts.
The longer-term play came in the form of SCR 80, filed by Henry and DeVillier. It creates a 15-member bipartisan task force to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the MFP and recommend a permanent, predictable funding structure for teacher and support staff pay raises, with a report due to the Legislature by January 1, 2027 — positioning the issue for the 2027 Regular Session.
Separately, legislative leaders signaled that higher education funding will also be examined, with Sen. Mike Reese, recently named the next president of McNeese State University, identified as a central figure. DeVillier pointed to UL Lafayette, which entered this fiscal year facing a $25 million shortfall and another $25 million in unpaid bills, as one example of the fiscal pressures driving calls for stronger university spending accountability.
One Acadiana will continue tracking teacher pay, the MFP task force, and the higher education review as part of our Talent Development priorities.