Louisiana senators trim private education vouchers, expand Medicaid budget

Yahoo

3 days ago

Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, helped lead an effort to reduce funding in the state budget for a new private education voucher program that Gov. Jeff Landry has pushed. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
The Republican-led Louisiana Senate Finance Committee has removed public money meant to expand the use of private education vouchers in spite of the initiative being a priority for fellow Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. The committee agreed Sunday to cut $50 million from LA GATOR, Landry's initiative launching in the 2025-26 school year. The reduction will leave $44 million for the program, enough to continue covering private school tuition for 6,000 students who already receive state-funded vouchers.
Landry and the Louisiana House wanted to put an additional $50 million into LA GATOR so the state could give out 5,300 new vouchers next school year, for approximately 11,300 overall.
The cut was one of the biggest shakeups in the Senate leadership's initial version of the $43 billion state budget unveiled Sunday. The Senate and House must come together to reach a compromise on the spending plan by June 12.
Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, has been resolute in his opposition to giving out more vouchers in the coming year. For weeks, he has expressed concern that LA GATOR's cost could grow faster than the state can afford it, and that the state's existing voucher program hasn't resulted in better education outcomes for students enrolled in it.
Still, Landry and conservative groups who back LA GATOR have been putting pressure on senators to keep the $50 million in the program. They are running advertisements and recently held a rally next to the Capitol pushing for additional vouchers for the program.
Some senators were also reluctant to explain why the money had been removed Sunday.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, and Sen. Rick Edmonds, who sponsored the bill to set up LA GATOR last year, allowed the state budget bill with the cut to move forward, but they declined to comment after the committee meeting.
Louisiana Education Superintendent Cade Brumley, one of LA GATOR's biggest proponents, also refused to comment on the budget change after the committee hearing. Brumley said he had not had a chance to review the adjustment to the program yet.
Yet based on the assumption that the number of vouchers offered would grow, Brumley had opened applications for the program across the state earlier this spring. Nearly 40,000 families have applied for the limited slots.
At least some of the $50 million taken from LA GATOR is going to be used to restore $30 million to a targeted tutoring program for public elementary school students. Brumley attributed some of Louisiana's success on national math and reading tests to the tutoring program and said he was grateful it had been added back into the budget.
Landry, Senate hope for hundreds of millions in federal Medicaid funding
The Republican Senate leadership's version of the budget also adds hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to the state Medicaid budget. The money would be used to pay physicians and hospitals a higher reimbursement rate for treating Medicaid patients. Landry asked the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services earlier this year to allow Louisiana's medical providers to receive a rate for treating Medicaid patients closer to what private insurers provide. The federal government has not agreed pay the new rate yet. But if it does, it will increase Louisiana's federal Medicaid funding by $500 million in the state budget cycle that starts June 1. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars could also be given to Louisiana to retroactively cover payments in the current budget year that ends June 30.
Louisiana's request for more Medicaid funding comes at a time when President Donald Trump and U.S. House Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, are pushing for ways to reduce the nation's overall spending on Medicaid. But the reimbursement rates are not expected to be affected by changes Congress is considering.
UNO transfer to LSU System comes with debt relief The Senate has added $20 million in its budget proposal for the University of Louisiana System to pay off debt associated with the University of New Orleans, which is likely to move over to the LSU System this summer.
The Senate has also included nearly $2 million for the UL System to continue a youth recreation partnership at UNO for another year and $450,000 for LSU to conduct an 'academic and finance' audit of UNO in the next fiscal cycle. Sheriffs will get paid more to hold state inmates
The Senate added $11.6 million to the budget in order to give local sheriffs $3 more per day per inmate to house state adult inmates in their local jails. Currently, sheriffs are paid $26.39 per day per inmate to house state prisoners.
Louisiana keeps approximately 15,800 inmates in local parish jails instead of state prisons. This includes almost 2,000 state prisoners who are in transitional work programs, where they hold jobs at private businesses in the community while living at the jail.
Louisiana DOGE gets money, staff to find efficiencies The Senate has added $1.5 million into the budget to support the so-called 'Louisiana DOGE' initiative Landry set up to search for government efficiencies. The money will support 10 positions in Landry's Division of Administration to perform a financial review of government services statewide.