Legislation filed by Rep. Neil Riser would take away a dedicated funding stream for early education and replace it with annual dollars for state college football programs. House Bill 639 would increase Louisiana’s tax on sports gambling from 15% to 32.5%. But as the Illuminator’s Piper Hutchinson notes, there is debate about where the new revenue should go:
Increasing the tax rate on sports gambling has support from both conservative and progressive corners, both of whom want to use the revenue to offset the “social ills” of gambling. But Riser’s bill goes further, altering the revenue split and putting 25% into a fund that would benefit student-athletes at public schools that compete at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision levels. The state currently brings in approximately $54 million annually in sports gambling revenue. If his bill passes, the state’s take would increase to approximately $116 million, with about $30 million dedicated to college athletics.
Hutchinson explains how Riser’s bill prioritizes college football over early childhood education and other programs:
Presently, the state’s split for sports gambling tax revenue calls for 25% to go toward early childhood education, 10% to local governments and the rest goes to gambling addiction programs and other projects. Under Riser’s bill, after college athletic departments get their 25%, an additional 3% goes to the Louisiana Postsecondary Inclusive Education Fund, which finances programs for students with disabilities, and the rest goes into the state general fund that can be used for a variety of government needs.
Louisiana college and high school athletes earning income through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals would be exempt from the state income tax, under House Bill 166 Rep. Dixon McMakin. Invest in Louisiana’s Jan Moller explains why this is a bad idea:
“It’s not the government’s role to subsidize millionaire college athletes when we can’t provide basic services to our citizens,” [Invest in Louisiana Executive Director Jan] Moller said. … The proposal is bad tax policy, Moller said. “It’s conservatives who will always say that we shouldn’t pick winners and losers with our tax policy,” Moller said. “What is this if not picking winners and losers?”
How the Legislature could surprise or disappoint
The 2025 Louisiana Legislative Session begins its second week on Tuesday. The Illuminator’s Greg LaRose outlines five ways the Legislature could surprise or disappoint, including lawmakers’ decision to provide funding for a teacher pay raise or the state’s new private-school voucher program:
For the past two years, lawmakers have provided K-12 faculty with a $2,000 stipend, in addition to $1,000 for school support workers. These pay supplements are in question next academic year after voters rejected [Gov. Jeff] Landry’s plan to make them permanent. Amendment 2 on the March 29 ballot linked teacher compensation with approval of the governor’s tax and budget overhaul. … Legislative leaders have said they want to find the money to keep teacher pay at the stipend-enhanced level, and there’s a good chance it could come at the expense of the governor’s program to expand private school vouchers.
Amendment 2 would have eliminated state trust funds that support education programs and used those dollars to replace annual teacher stipends. The Legislature is trying to revive elements of the amendment despite voters’ overwhelming rejection. Several of those proposals, including the teacher pay amendment, are being heard in the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday morning.
Congress shuts down crucial weather-tracking center
The Southern Regional Climate Center, which provides near real-time climate data for Louisiana and nearby states, closed its doors last week because of a federal funding lapse. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Kasey Bubnash and Josie Abugov report:
Alison Tarter, a research specialist with the Southern Climate Research Center, said the center’s five-year contract is funded by grants that have to be approved by the federal government each year. This year’s deadline came and went without approval, she said. For now, the center, based in College Station, Texas, is not providing services, its website is down and its handful of staff members are finding other work, Tarter said.
The center was one of four around the country that were shuttered because Congress did not renew their funding. The Advocate’s team spoke with Louisiana State Climatologist Jay Grimes, who outlined the consequences of that decision:
A construction company might use it to prove they couldn’t complete a project on deadline due to several days of rain. A farmer might use it to find the right time to plant or harvest crops. Grymes, as a climatologist, uses it to quickly analyze and monitor the state’s weather patterns.
Stop leaving kids out of the Child Tax Credit
The federal Child Tax Credit has a proven track record of lifting people out of poverty and putting kids on the path to a brighter future. But more than 650,000 kids in veteran families receive a reduced credit or no credit at all because their families’ income is too low. This includes 17,000 children in Louisiana. Malik Woullard of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains why Congress should ensure all children in low- and moderate-income families receive the full Child Tax Credit:
This group is among the 17 million kids in low- and moderate-income families in the U.S. who are denied the full credit, whereas children in higher-income families get the full credit. This is due to the upside-down structure of the credit: specifically, the credit’s slow 15 percent phase-in rate for earnings that exceed $2,500, and the lower maximum credit amount for children in families with low incomes, often called a “refundability cap.” Congress has a critical opportunity in the upcoming tax bill to address this upside-down structure and help these veteran families.
Number of the Day
5.3 million – Number of Americans who are in default on their student loans. The Education Department will begin collection on student loans that are in default beginning next month. (Source: Associated Press)