Gov. Jeff Landry’s budget proposal for the 2026-27 fiscal year includes more money for state prisons and private school vouchers, but no dollars to maintain annual stipends for public school teachers and support staff. The governor wants to double the annual funding for his LA GATOR program, which diverts public tax dollars to private schools, to $88 million. But concerns about the program’s cost and effectiveness, which derailed last year’s funding-increase efforts, remain. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue reports: 

“The reason I didn’t like GATOR is because every year it has to double, right? And lo and behold, this year it’s doubled,” [Senate President Cameron Henry] told Landry’s staff Friday. … Legislators skeptical of the program have raised questions about whether extending vouchers to more families would actually help children escape inadequate public education or simply subsidize families who already send their children to private schools. Approximately three-quarters of the 39,189 students who applied for LA GATOR last year were already attending private schools, according to information Henry and other legislators provided. 

Legislative leaders are also concerned that public tax dollars can be used to cover more than private school tuition: 

…Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, … is concerned voucher funding can be used on expenses other than tuition, when families with public school students don’t have those same opportunities. “The devil is in the details, and we need to see what the devil is doing,” McFarland said in an interview.

Landry is hoping state voters will approve a constitutional amendment on the May 16 ballot that would provide a permanent pay raise for teachers and support staff:

The (May) ballot measure specifically asks voters to dissolve education trust funds that currently support higher education and K-12 schools in order to pay down $2 billion worth of educator retirement debt. Local school districts will then be required to use their debt savings to give out the raises in the 2026-27 school year. Voters rejected a similar amendment Landry pushed last year, but the new proposal has been rewritten to address teacher compensation more directly and leaves out tax policy changes that weren’t as popular with the public.

Invest in Louisiana will provide analysis on Amendment 3 and other proposed amendments in the coming weeks. 

Reality check: Louisiana faces a budget shortfall of $329 million for the 2027-28 fiscal year. The deficit balloons to nearly a billion dollars for the 2029-30 fiscal year. 


Paid parental leave for teachers

Several states across the country have created policies that provide paid parental leave to educators. The Washington Post’s Lauren Lumpkin explains how policymakers see the crucial benefit as an effective recruitment and retention tool:

While the share of private-sector employees with access to paid family leave jumped from 13 percent to 27 percent between 2017 and 2023, the proportion of teachers with that benefit grew by a single percentage point, to 28 percent, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. … “We’re trying to make it more attractive, to encourage people to go into the teaching profession, which is hard to do when they can make more money in the private sector,” [Alabama state Rep. Ginny] Shaver said.

Paid parental leave is becoming a bipartisan issue: 

The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, outlined in a January reportthe importance of policies such as parental leave for promoting marriage and childbearing. After Mississippi lawmakers advanced policy last year to give public employees paid leave, state House Speaker Jason White (R) said the measure reflected Mississippi’s “pro-life” position. 

A proposal to provide paid parental leave for Louisiana teachers and support staff was shelved during the 2024 legislative session over cost concerns.


Health insurance is more expensive than the mortgage 

The expiration of federal subsidies that kept Marketplace coverage affordable is leaving millions of Americans with excruciating financial decisions. The Wall Street Journal’s Rachel Louise Ensign explains how health insurance is more expensive than mortgages for some middle-income earners:

Lenny and Mandee Wilson, who are 47 years old and live in Charleston, W.Va., paid $255 a month last year for a low-end ACA plan. Late last year, they learned their bill would be going up to $2,155 a month, a sum nearly triple their monthly mortgage payment of about $760.  The Wilsons each squeezed in one last checkup before the end of 2025 and are now going without insurance. … “If we step off the ladder wrong and make a trip to the ER or have to spend the night in the hospital for any reason, that would pretty much wipe us out financially,” Lenny said.

The wealth proceeds tax

The post-pandemic economy that generated increased tax revenue for state budgets is over. Now policymakers enter an era that will be marred by increased fiscal pressures from the federal tax and budget megabill. Jay Tomkus of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains how states can raise much-needed revenue through a wealth proceeds tax: 

The wealth proceeds tax, as described by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), taxes income from wealth by targeting those types of income that are generated from passive investment, as opposed to income from work, like wages and salaries. The tax applies to income from interest, stock dividends, capital gains, and certain trusts, as well as businesses in which the taxpayer is not actively involved. At the federal level, these forms of income are often taxed at much lower rates than income earned through work.

A wealth proceeds tax would make state tax systems more progressive: 

In most states, income from wealth is taxed less often or at lower rates than income from work, perpetuating a system that preserves wealth rather than rewards work. Since the wealth proceeds tax is tied specifically to income passively generated by wealth, it raises revenue from those who make money by already having money — an inherently fairer approach than raising revenue from less progressive sources.

Number of the Day

0.1% – Change in personal income in Louisiana during the third quarter of 2025, the lowest growth in the nation. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)