Acadiana Teachers Face Stipend Loss After Louisiana Voters Reject All 5 Amendments

LAFAYETTE, La. — Louisiana’s public school teachers are at risk of losing a $2,000 annual stipend after voters across the state rejected all five constitutional amendments on Saturday’s ballot, including Amendment 3, which would have converted years of temporary teacher stipends into permanent raises.

With most precincts reporting Saturday night, only 42% of voters supported Amendment 3 — the best showing among the five measures, but still a decisive loss, according to unofficial results posted by the Louisiana Secretary of State.

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What Amendment 3 Would Have Done

The amendment was built around a financial trade-off. The state would dissolve three education trust funds, the Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund, the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund, and the Education Excellence Fund, and use the combined roughly $2 billion in those accounts to pay down debt in the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana ahead of schedule. The early payoff would have saved an estimated $1 billion in interest, and public schools would have been required to direct those annual savings toward permanent salary increases.

According to WWNO, the amendment would have resulted in raises of $2,250 for teachers and $1,125 for support staff beginning in the 2026-27 school year — building on three years of annual stipends of $2,000 and $1,000 that public school employees had already been receiving.

Those stipends were always temporary. Without a legislative fix or a new funding source, they expire this summer.

The Price of Losing

Senate President Cameron Henry made clear before the vote that the Legislature had no plans to absorb the cost if Amendment 3 failed.

“If the public doesn’t vote to give [teachers] a pay raise, then that means they don’t want to give them a pay raise,” Henry told reporters. “So the legislature is not going to turn around and do something that our constituents voted not to do.”

Another one-time stipend would cost the state roughly $200 million. Louisiana is managing reduced revenue following the 2025 tax cuts, and Gov. Landry is pushing an additional $44 million for the state’s school voucher program.

The state’s two largest teachers unions, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Educators, both endorsed Amendment 3, though some union affiliates stayed neutral and some educators opposed the measure outright, arguing that tapping the education trust funds was the wrong mechanism regardless of the outcome.

“Members want a traditionally funded raise that they feel the state owes them after years of stipends,” St. Tammany Parish union president Brant Osborne told a recent school board meeting. “They don’t want something to come at what they view as the expense of kids.”

What Killed All Five Amendments

All five amendments went down together, and the political environment surrounding Saturday’s election shaped that result.

According to the Louisiana Illuminator, Gov. Landry backed four of the five amendments, and his political action committee, Protect Louisiana Values, spent $1 million on a campaign to pass them. They lost by margins ranging from 16 to 56 percentage points.

Left-leaning groups and the Liberty and Dignity Coalition ran a “No on All” campaign tying the amendment vote to anger over Landry’s decision to suspend U.S. House races scheduled for May 16. The governor canceled those elections after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down Louisiana’s congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, giving lawmakers time to redraw district lines. Critics said the new map was drawn to eliminate one of the state’s two majority-Black congressional seats.

Black voters, energized by the redistricting fight, turned out in higher numbers than expected during early voting and on Election Day. Pollster John Couvillion of JMC Analytics noted before the polls closed that Black and Democrat turnout looked more energized in early and mail-in voting.

Activist groups also got voters motivated.

“All of those things are opening people’s eyes to the voter suppression efforts that have been taking place in this state for a long time,” said Sarah Omojola of the Liberty and Dignity Coalition, which organized the opposition campaign.

It is the second consecutive year Louisiana voters have rejected a Landry-backed constitutional amendment package. In March 2025, voters rejected Amendment 2, a sweeping overhaul of Article VII of the state constitution that included a similar teacher pay and trust fund provision but was rejected in part for its scope and complexity.

What Was on the Rest of the Ballot

Here is what each of the other four amendments would have done.

Amendment 1 would have given the Legislature authority to move state positions in and out of the civil service system without approval from the Civil Service Commission — a change supporters said would improve government efficiency, and opponents said would open classified state jobs to greater political influence.

Amendment 2 would have granted the St. George Community School System in East Baton Rouge Parish authority to operate independently. Supporters had pushed for the new district for more than a decade, citing the performance of Baton Rouge public schools. Critics argued it would drain resources from the existing district and further segregate East Baton Rouge Parish along racial and economic lines.

Amendment 4 would have allowed individual parishes to opt out of Louisiana’s inventory tax — one of the few such levies remaining in the country — in exchange for a one-time state payment. The opt-out would have been permanent. Landry and business groups backed the measure as an economic development tool.

Amendment 5 would have raised the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75. Under current law, judges may serve out their terms after turning 70 but cannot seek reelection.

None of the five crossed 44% support, according to unofficial results.

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What Comes Next for Louisiana Teachers

The immediate question is whether the Legislature, now in its regular session, will find another path to fund the teacher stipends before the budget is finalized. Henry said before the vote that the Legislature would not go back and fund something voters rejected.

Landry is also pushing for an additional $44 million for school vouchers, a spending priority that is likely to compete directly with any new teacher compensation discussion. Henry has indicated he plans to block that request.

For Acadiana teachers and school employees, that means losing the $2,000 and $1,000 stipends this summer unless the Legislature acts.

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