The Louisiana Legislature overwhelmingly approved a $53 billion budget Thursday without funding for Gov. Jeff Landry’s signature private education voucher initiative, one that he initially celebrated with much fanfare.
Legislative leaders, especially in the Senate, had said for the past year that they weren’t going to fund the LA GATOR program in the budget cycle that starts July 1. Landy and state education Superintendent Cade Brumley pressed forward with launching the program anyway, attempting to force lawmakers into changing their minds with public pressure.
In March, Brumley opened up applications for LA GATOR for the 2025-26 school year, even after Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said he didn’t think the extra slots would be funded. Now without the additional money, none of the nearly 30,000-plus students who Brumley encouraged to apply for extra voucher slots will have an opportunity to receive funding for private education this coming school year.
In the approved budget plan, lawmakers only included $44 million to pay for school vouchers for 5,600 students attending private schools under a voucher program started more than a decade ago by former Gov. Bobby Jindal. They rejected Landry and Brumley’s request to provide $50 million more for a more lenient, publicly funded private education program that was supposed to include 5,300 more students.
Henry and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, have not committed to paying for more private education vouchers with public dollars in future years either.
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