Louisiana Lawmakers Approve Teacher Stipends, But a Judge Has the Plan Frozen
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana lawmakers gave their blessing Wednesday to Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to redirect $168 million in public school funding into teacher stipends, but the vote may not mean much, at least not yet. A Baton Rouge judge has the plan on hold, and a court hearing on Monday will determine whether it moves forward.
The Legislature’s approval, delivered through a remote electronic ballot rather than a floor vote, cleared the two-thirds threshold Landry needed in both chambers. In the House, 76 of 105 members voted yes, with eight voting no, one abstaining, and 20 not voting. The Senate was nearly unanimous, with 37 of 39 members in favor. The lone “no” in the Senate came from Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans. Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews, D-Monroe, abstained.
The plan would give classroom teachers a $2,000 stipend and some support staff a $1,000 payment for the coming school year, funded by cutting the state’s Minimum Foundation Program, the formula that distributes money to Louisiana’s public school districts, by roughly 5 percent.
What the Executive Order Does
Landry signed the executive order on June 2, the day after the legislative session ended, after voters rejected a constitutional amendment in May that would have established a permanent funding source for teacher raises. It was the second time Louisiana voters had turned down such a measure at the ballot box.
Teachers have received the $2,000 stipends for each of the past three years. Without action from the governor or the Legislature, those payments were set to disappear when the new school year begins.
Under the order, $168 million that would have flowed through the MFP to school districts gets rerouted instead into the State Overcollections Fund and disbursed as stipends. The governor directed that the cuts come from what he called non-instructional expenses, administrative overhead, building maintenance, insurance and similar operational costs, rather than classroom spending.
Senate President Cameron Henry and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier issued a joint statement Wednesday saying the Legislature did not want to see teacher pay reduced this year.
“While working towards a permanent solution to raise our teacher pay in Louisiana,” they said, “the Legislature clearly did not want to see a reduction in teacher pay this year.”
Why Lafayette Parish Is Watching This Closely
Lafayette Parish is among the larger districts that the state legislative auditor’s office flagged as potentially unable to absorb the cut while maintaining recommended reserve fund levels. Jefferson, East Baton Rouge, Ouachita, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa parishes were also named.
That said, Lafayette Parish School System Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr. said earlier this month that no LPSS teachers will lose their jobs over the funding redirect. Touchet said the $168 million statewide figure works out to roughly $9 million for Lafayette Parish, which is about 3 percent of what the district receives through the MFP.
“It’s not that he’s taking money from us,” Touchet said. “He’s basically saying you need to repurpose that amount of money to give those teachers the $2,000 and $1,000.”
Districts that gave teachers equivalent pay increases in 2026 can use the MFP stipend allocation to offset those costs rather than cut elsewhere. The governor’s office clarified that raises or stipends given before 2026 would not qualify for that exemption.
The Court Fight Blocking the Plan
A Baton Rouge judge issued an 11-day temporary restraining order on June 18, blocking the executive order from taking effect. The lawsuit was filed by three plaintiffs: Katie Baudouin, an Orleans Parish School Board member; Dr. Belinda Davis, a former state board of education member; and Mike Faulk, a former school superintendent.
Judge Richard “Chip” Moore of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge found the plaintiffs had made an initial case that the executive order may violate the state constitution on several grounds. The court identified separation of powers concerns, noting that the governor’s authority to reduce MFP appropriations does not extend to deciding where that money goes after the cut. Under Louisiana’s constitution, BESE, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, holds authority over the MFP formula, not the governor.
The court also raised concerns about the out-of-session vote itself. Because Landry issued his order after the legislative session ended on June 1, lawmakers voted remotely on a deadline rather than through the normal committee hearing and floor debate process.
“In place of a public debate,” the lawsuit says, the electronic ballot “substitutes a private, individual, online vote — without committee hearing, without floor debate, without public testimony, without amendment, and without any mechanism for public participation or transparency.”
Plaintiffs’ spokesperson Greg Beuerman said Wednesday that the Legislature’s vote “carries no force of law” because the restraining order prohibited Landry from taking any steps to enact the cut, including seeking lawmakers’ consent. The plaintiffs argued the right path forward is a special legislative session.
State attorneys, meanwhile, asked the court Tuesday to lift the restraining order, calling it an “unprecedented intrusion into the appropriations process.” Attorney General Liz Murrill said the order had no effect on the legislative vote because the Legislature is not a party to the lawsuit.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.
What Happens Next
The outcome of Monday’s hearing will determine whether Landry’s plan survives legal challenge or gets sent back to the Legislature for a proper special session. A survey by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers found that 69 percent of its members support continuing the stipend, but nearly two-thirds oppose cutting the MFP to pay for it.
For Lafayette Parish teachers and school employees, the practical picture remains unchanged for now. The restraining order keeps the current funding structure in place until the court rules. Whether those stipends ultimately arrive, and how they get paid for, depends on what happens in a Baton Rouge courtroom next week.
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