Louisiana education board stands firm on school finance plan

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's top school board has refused to revise the $3.8 billion public school formula it sent to lawmakers. Board members resisted House Republicans' push to strip a block grant increase to school districts.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education decided Tuesday to keep pursuing the formula it proposed for the 2019-20 school year.

The formula, backed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, includes $140 million in increases: $101 million for teacher and support worker pay raises and $39 million for districts to spend as they'd like.

House Republicans blocked passage of the formula. They're pushing larger teacher pay raises and none of the block grant increase. The Senate is advancing the proposal sought by Edwards and the education board.

Lawmakers can reject or approve the formula, but cannot change it.