LPSS Superintendent Says No Lafayette Teachers Will Be Laid Off Over Governor Landry’s School Funding Cut

LAFAYETTE, La. — Lafayette Parish parents and teachers worried about job cuts can exhale, at least for now. Lafayette Parish School System Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr. said Wednesday that no teachers in the district will lose their jobs over Gov. Jeff Landry’s push to redirect $168 million in public school funding toward teacher stipends.

Touchet made the statement during an appearance on Acadiana’s Morning News on Wednesday, the morning after Landry issued an executive order pulling the money from what the governor characterized as non-instructional school spending. According to The Advocate, the order would reduce school districts’ state aid by an average of 4 to 5 percent statewide.

“In Lafayette Parish, that will not be the case,” Touchet said on air. “We are not going to cut teachers because of a $9 million reduction in MFP.”

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What the Landry Order Means for Lafayette Parish Schools

Landry’s executive order directs the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to identify cuts within the school funding formula (known as the Minimum Foundation Program) to free up money for the stipend payments. The governor said the reductions should come from “non-instructional” expenses, and told school board leaders Tuesday that “essential student services” such as security, food service, and transportation would not be affected.

For Lafayette Parish specifically, Touchet said the $168 million statewide figure translates to about 3 percent of what the district receives through the MFP—approximately $9 million the district would need to repurpose rather than spend as originally planned.

“It’s not that he’s taking money from us,” Touchet explained. “He’s basically saying you need to repurpose that amount of money to give those teachers the $2,000 and $1,000.”

The superintendent said he would be meeting with the district’s CFO and local legislators this week to begin mapping out what that repurposing looks like in practice.

‘We Will Cut Non-Instructional Before Anything Else’

Since Landry’s announcement, concern has spread on social media that teachers could face layoffs to make up the budget gap. Touchet addressed that directly.

“We will go back to that non-instructional purpose, and we will cut that before we take care of anything,” he said, “because what’s going on in the classroom is the most important thing.”

LPSS will also review staffing formulas and make sure resources go where they matter most. “We have to support teachers. We have to support administrators. We have to make sure that that is a focus so that we can assure that teaching and learning are continuing.”

Touchet said he supports both the stipends and Landry’s broader push to get teachers more money, while acknowledging the uncertainty the order has created for districts across the state. Vermilion Parish Superintendent Tommy Byler told The Advocate the plan forces school system leaders to go over their budgets “with a fine-tooth comb,” and warned that some districts “are going to take a severe hit.”

Legislative Vote Still Needed

The executive order does not take effect automatically. Two-thirds of the Louisiana Legislature must approve the funding change through a mail-in ballot process, since the legislative session ended Monday. Touchet said he understands lawmakers have approximately 20 days to cast their votes.

State Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, told The Advocate he does not yet know whether Landry has the votes. “There’s a process that we will go through to determine if we believe those dollars are there,” McFarland said.

A BESE spokesperson said the board is reviewing the order and has not made any decisions.

Landry has repeatedly vowed to deliver permanent pay raises for Louisiana teachers, who earn roughly $16,000 less than the national average. Voters rejected a constitutional amendment in May that would have redirected education trust fund money toward that goal — the second time such a proposal has failed at the ballot box. Facing a legislative session that ended without a stipend appropriation in the budget, Landry moved to the executive order route this week.

Whether Landry gets the two-thirds legislative vote he needs remains an open question. But Touchet said Lafayette Parish is already getting to work on the numbers.

“We’re going to make it happen,” he said.

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