Louisiana House passes bills with teacher stipend, private school grants; Senate up next

The Louisiana House on Thursday advanced a budget that continues teacher pay stipends and funds Gov. Jeff Landry's LA GATOR scholarship program, among $49 billion in other spending.

With little debate, lawmakers greenlit a set of bills that dictates state spending for the coming fiscal year. The package now heads to the Senate, which is expected to make its own set of amendments.

The package includes nearly $200 million to ensure that, for the third year in a row, teachers and school support staff will get stipends of $2,000 and $1,000 each, respectively. To fund the stipends, lawmakers cut $30 million for high dosage tutoring and delayed $91 million in acquisitions of new vehicles and heavy equipment by state agencies, among other measures.  

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