Gov. Landry’s expanded school voucher program is in danger of being cut

Lawmakers are considering scrapping funding for Gov. Jeff Landry’s LA GATOR, the expanded school voucher program expected to award millions more in tax dollars to private schools, Louisiana Illuminator reports. 

Legislators are considering the cut to instead fund the $2,000 and $1,000 stipends that public school teachers and staff have received the last two years. To fund the pay, lawmakers have to find an extra $198 million in the state budget and several legislators have indicated in interviews that diverting $50 million from LA GATOR seemed like the best option. 

“A lot of members still want to do the teacher stipend,” says House Appropriations Committee Chair Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who oversees building of the state budget. “For me, it’s going to be challenging” to fund the LA GATOR program on top of the stipends.”

Cutting the LA GATOR initiative, however, would scuttle one of Landry’s most significant legislative accomplishments since taking office last year.

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