State Senate President Cameron Henry and House Speaker Philip Devillier spoke to the Baton Rouge Press Club on Monday to preview the three-month Louisiana Legislative session that kicks off next week. As WBRZ’s Alexis Marigny reports, Henry continued opposing Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to double the state’s private school voucher program:  

“I think it’s important for us to take a step back and see what is actually working,” Henry said on Monday. Gov. Jeff Landry insists the current program is working, and wants lawmakers to double the current spending set aside for the program to $88 million. Henry said he is not on board with the governor because not enough data is available to show if the program is working as intended. “Doubling a program every year is going to be a problem,” Henry said.

The federal tax and budget megabill and recent state tax cuts will help create state budget shortfalls in upcoming years. But as WAFB’s Liam Combs reports, those fiscal headwinds may not deter state lawmakers from doubling down on more irresponsible tax cuts: 

The state also faces a looming $45 million budget gap, stemming from the federal government pulling back funding for Medicaid and SNAP programs. Legislative leaders have also discussed lowering state income taxes again, though the budget shortfall will factor into those conversations as the session gets underway.

It’s tough to be a woman in Louisiana

Louisiana is the worst state to be a woman, according to a new report from WalletHub. The report grades states on 25 key indicators of women’s living standards, including median earnings for female workers, the quality of women’s health care and the female homicide rate. Trinity Velazquez of Louisiana First News has the lowlights on where Louisiana ranks:

  • 43rd for median earnings for female workers, adjusted for cost of living.
  • 43rd for the unemployment rate for women.
  • 51st for the share of women living in poverty.
  • 47th for high school graduation rate for women.
  • 50th for the share of women who voted in the 2024 presidential election.
  • 44th for women’s life expectancy at birth.

LDH head talks new SNAP restrictions

Nearly 750,000 Louisianans who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are no longer able to use their benefits to buy soda, candy or energy drinks. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue sat down with Louisiana Health Secretary Bruce Greenstein to discuss the new SNAP restrictions, including what ‘junk food’ is still allowed to be purchased with benefits: 

On the junk food side, some junk food is subject to people’s interpretation, but energy drinks, soda pop that has high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavor, those were very easy to define. Candy is actually quite tricky. There’s a spectrum of what is candy and what is cookies, for example. My favorite is the distinction between, say Chips Ahoy cookies and something that has a cookie in it, which is Twix. One you can no longer use your SNAP benefit on … is Twix but right now cookies are still on the list.

LDH is launching a program that incentivizes SNAP recipients to buy fruits and vegetables:

At the same time, we’re beginning a program that we call the Carrot Initiative, and that is to give an additional 30% back to [SNAP recipients] for every dollar they spend on fresh fruits and vegetables. We’re piloting that right now in Baton Rouge and in Orleans Parish, and what we’re trying to do is shift the whole program to having better foods, more economical foods, and more healthy foods available in the SNAP program.

St. James schools are still segregated 

The St. James Parish School System has failed to comply with a 2017 consent order and is still segregated. That’s according to a ruling handed down by U.S. District Judge Darrel James Papillion. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Christopher Cartwright reports: 

[Papillion’s] order focused on three schools that were once all-Black and legally segregated before Brown v. Board of Education, including the St. Louis Math and Reading Academy. Papillion found that aspects of a special literacy program designed to attract students from across the parish to St. Louis had been adopted district-wide, nullifying the program’s intended desegregation purpose.

Three schools that Papillion focused on had not significantly changed their racial composition since the consent decree: 

To determine if a school can be considered desegregated in student assignment, the 2017 consent order adopted a variance measure of 15% above or below district-wide demographics as a starting point. In practice, that roughly correlates to a Black student enrollment rate of between 45% and 75% for every school. In the 2023-24 school year, more than 95% of the student body at St. Louis Academy was Black, while Sixth Ward was 80% Black, according to the order.

Number of the Day

39% – Share of low-income Americans who consider themselves a caregiver for a parent, spouse or partner aged 65 or older, compared to just 16% for upper-income people. (Source: Pew Research Center)