Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has taken a second step to increase public teacher pay in Louisiana after a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at granting those raises failed.
Landry signed an executive order Tuesday mandating the Louisiana Department of Education, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and local school boards to find $168 million in non-instructional funds and redirect them to teacher pay raises. Those raises, Landry says, will take effect in the 2026-27 school year.
"Today marks a whole new beginning in the way that our local and state government are going to treat our teachers," Landry said. "(LDOE and BESE) are to begin the structural work needed to embed permanent pay raises inside the (Minimum Foundation Program), not as temporary add-ons but as a guaranteed part of the formula."
Landry says the money is there to pay for the raises.
"Everyone I talked to said there's plenty enough money in the system. In fact, there's over a billion dollars in unassigned funds that school boards are sitting on," Landry said. "There are couple of school boards that are sitting on $100 million."
According to Landry, the pay raises will go only to classroom teachers and aides, not to principals or administrators.
"What we have done before is: we're going to give a teacher stipend because nobody wants to vote against a teacher stipend, and then we bloat it up with $20 million for people that don't deserve it," Landry said. "So, no! This executive order focuses on teachers that are in the classroom and those support staff that are supporting those teachers and supporting those students."
Landry said he's not afraid to have the state step in and force school boards to find that money if they don't do it themselves.
"It is time for these school boards to tighten their belts and to put what they tighten down--what they find--in those teachers' checks," Landry said.
