From higher education financial aid to work-based learning, the state is examining whether our education investments are producing workforce outcomes.
Connecting students to meaningful careers — and ensuring Louisiana’s education investments are aligned with the state’s workforce needs — is at the heart of our One Acadiana ConnectEd initiative. It was also at the heart of legislative action at the Capitol last week.
Across both chambers, five One Acadiana-supported measures advanced — each addressing a different piece of the same question: are Louisiana’s investments in education and workforce preparation producing the outcomes our state needs? From traditional college aid through TOPS (HR 17), to workforce-aligned aid programs (HR 171), from the data infrastructure that makes evaluation possible (HB 1058, HB 632) to work-based learning opportunities for high school students (SCR 33), Louisiana lawmakers are increasingly focused on return on investment, workforce alignment, and student outcomes.
Read on for a recap of Week 8’s action on career-connected learning.
Studying the Return on TOPS
HR 17 by Rep. Chris Turner passed the full House on a 93-1 vote and is now officially adopted. The resolution directs the Board of Regents, Louisiana Works, and LED to study Louisiana’s return on investment for TOPS, in collaboration with the Blanco Public Policy Center at UL Lafayette.
The need for this study is clear. While the Board of Regents publishes an annual report on TOPS participation, no one has looked comprehensively yet at what happens to recipients down the road, whether they graduate, stay in Louisiana, or enter careers aligned with the state’s high-demand jobs. As the Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership explained in committee testimony, this gap in data makes it impossible to know whether TOPS is truly delivering for students and for the state.
HR 17 will help answer those questions by pairing decades of Board of Regents data with Louisiana Works employment outcomes data, giving policymakers a clear picture of TOPS’ long-term impact. The study will also include a broader review of Louisiana’s full portfolio of financial aid programs, examining how they can be better aligned with workforce needs and the opportunities ahead for Louisiana’s economy. One Acadiana supports this resolution.
Evaluating Workforce-Aligned Aid Programs
HR 171 by Rep. Turner — a companion to HR 17 — passed the House Education Committee last week and now heads to the House floor. Where HR 17 focuses on traditional TOPS awards, HR 171 directs a comprehensive study of Louisiana’s workforce-aligned aid programs: TOPS-Tech and the M.J. Foster Promise Program.
As Rep. Turner noted in committee, these programs have been adjusted frequently in recent years without the benefit of comprehensive data on their outcomes or return on investment. The study will examine what happens to recipients after they earn credentials, whether the credentials being funded match Louisiana’s workforce shortages, and what the state’s fiscal return looks like over time. With a job boom on the horizon driven by major economic development announcements, ensuring these programs are aligned with the jobs of the future is essential. One Acadiana supports this resolution.
Tracking the Data Behind Student Aid
HB 1058 by Rep. Dennis Bamburg passed the full House 84-6 and now heads to the Senate. The bill supports the kind of comprehensive review called for in HR 17 and HR 171 by requiring postsecondary institutions enrolling TOPS recipients to submit uniform data to the Board of Regents, building the data infrastructure needed to track financial aid trends, effectiveness, and outcomes across all state financial aid programs. One Acadiana supports this bill.
Strengthening Louisiana’s Education Data Infrastructure
HB 632 by Rep. Annie Spell passed the House Education Committee last week and heads to the House floor. Like HB 1058, this bill strengthens the data infrastructure that makes comprehensive evaluation of Louisiana’s education investments possible — but at a broader scale.
HB 632 strengthens the LA FIRST data system — Louisiana’s foundational integrated research system for tracking student outcomes from K-12 through postsecondary and into the workforce — by improving data protection, expanding data sharing, and requiring that all public school students be included in the system. As Rep. Spell emphasized in committee, LA FIRST exists to answer important questions for policymakers: Is our education system increasing labor force participation? Are students being prepared for high-quality jobs here in Louisiana? And is our education system helping to solve, or contributing to, the state’s brain drain challenge?
HB 632 makes LA FIRST better equipped to answer those questions. It also builds in strong protections for student data, including a prohibition on selling data to third parties and a parent opt-out provision for the new streamlined data sharing process. One Acadiana supports this bill.
Studying Louisiana’s Work-Based Learning Landscape
SCR 33 by Sen. Brach Myers passed the Senate Education Committee last week and now heads to the Senate floor. The resolution would create a task force to study the work-based learning opportunities currently available across Louisiana — identifying which experiences employers are providing, which industries are most engaged, where the gaps are, and how the state can better connect employers to school districts seeking work-based learning placements for their students.
Work-based learning — including job shadowing, cooperative education, internships, and youth apprenticeships — is increasingly recognized as essential to preparing students for careers. But as Leaders for a Better Louisiana noted in committee testimony, Louisiana lacks a comprehensive picture of the work-based learning ecosystem currently in place. Without that foundational understanding, efforts to scale work-based learning at the statewide level risk outpacing the employer capacity needed to support them.
SCR 33’s task force findings would equip policymakers, employers, and educators with a clearer picture of what work-based learning looks like in Louisiana today — and a stronger foundation for expanding it where it can have the greatest impact. One Acadiana supports this resolution.
One Acadiana is tracking key legislation across three priority areas: Economic Competitiveness, Talent Development, and Infrastructure Investment. Be on the lookout for 1A legislative updates on these issues, and more, throughout the session.