It did not have to be that way. The annual $2,000 stipends for teachers and $1,000 stipends for school support staff were set to expire at the end of the school year. Those stipends were in effect the last two school years. Last year the state legislature failed to address the issue before they expired so that funding could continue. Instead, the Governor wanted the funding to be a part of his 4 amendment changes to the constitution that voters soundly defeated at the ballot box on March 29.
Now the Governor and the legislature has to find the funds to continue the teachers support for the next school year and beyond and there is a scramble to do so. The regular legislative session is scheduled to start next week and Landry has already ordered a hiring freeze and stand still budget. So, where will the new funding come from to continue the teacher's stipends? According to reports, Louisiana teachers earn $5,000 less than the regional average and $15,000 less than the national average.
This writer believes teacher's pay should be funded by the legislature and its process and not the constitution. It is a fiscal issue and fiscal issues are the responsibility of the legislative process because that is where revenue and expenses are determined and plans and policy are made to fund government both short and long term. When there are no plans for the budget process, there are no budget solutions. The Governor and legislature goofed big time by not taking up the teacher's issue in last year's regular session and finding a way to fund it.
The legislature under former democratic Governor John B. Edwards faced the need to handle the $2 billion state budget deficit the Jindal administration left them with and proceeded to balance the budget and create surpluses. With the proper leadership the legislature can handle the teacher's issue with sound policy to find the resources to do so.
The problems that the GOP has are man made, they govern by ideology on the issues and never solve the problem because of that. Governor Landry is a Trump ditto head and after the amendments were defeated he was quoted blaming the defeat on "the far left liberals." Every one knows it is Trump who blames every one else for his own created problems. Of course, common sense tells us that the majority of those who voted against the amendments were Trump supporters.
The ball is now in the Governor's court of leadership. Let us see how he and the legislature handle the issue.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
