“When will we know if LA GATOR is funded and my child is approved?” This is the question we’re getting every day from parents across Louisiana who have applied for the new LA GATOR program to access a school or design a customized educational program to fit their child’s individual needs.

Let’s start with some background.

Last year, the Louisiana Legislature and Governor Landry enacted the program, directing the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to begin the work of launching it—namely adopting regulations (which BESE approved as Notice of Intent on 8/21/24, sent notice to legislative leadership on 9/10/24, and published to the public on 9/20/24) and selecting an outside vendor that would:

  • build the portal that would accept student applications;
  • register participating schools, educational service providers, and vendors;
  • build an online marketplace where families can view and select schools, educational services, and supplies appropriate for their child;
  • ensure that participating schools, providers, and vendors get paid in a timely manner; and
  • assume the primary role of day-to-day program management and customer service for all involved.

In support of LA GATOR’s launch for the 2025-2026 school year, the Legislature appropriated money for the LDOE to contract with the outside vendor. On November 15, 2024, the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget approved, overwhelmingly, a contract through June 30, 2025 with a program manager called Odyssey to begin the work as quickly as possible.

On February 27, 2025, the LDOE issued a press release announcing that the LA GATOR application portal that Odyssey had developed would open March 1 and accept student applications through April 15. When the portal closed, Louisiana families from every corner of the state —and overwhelmingly low-income—had submitted nearly 40,000 student applications.

Last week in a Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget meeting, questions were raised about the details of rules promulgated by BESE in August, as mentioned above. The responses to these questions are worth understanding better.

Following that September notice to legislative leadership, the Legislature had the authority under the state’s rulemaking process to object to the regulations during their review window last September. That authority was not utilized, despite broad publicity in the press and by education freedom advocates, not to mention the formal notification provided by BESE.

Questions were also raised about why LDOE accepted applications from families throughout the state and not just from those already enrolled in the state’s longstanding Louisiana Scholarship (“voucher”) Program (LSP). The plain text of the legislation and the BESE regulations lay out eligibility requirements by phase of implementation for the program.

Last week’s hearing about the provider contract portends broader troubles for the debate over LA GATOR funding. Senate President Cameron Henry repeated what he had told reporters the week before—that there was an “agreement” last year to fund only continuing LSP students, not supporting a single new student in the 2025-2026 school year. Neither the Governor’s Office nor other lawmakers have commented on being a part of such an agreement.

President Henry remarked that the Legislature may not have available funding, citing that full program funding could cost as much as $350 million. This is not accurate. The estimate fails to capture an accurate net cost, as there are savings the state will realize by no longer funding many of the same students in public schools next year. Governor Landry’s budget proposal includes $93.5 million for LA GATOR, which is enough to continue funding continuing LSP students and approximately 6,000 new LA GATOR participants. Even in this case, which is $50 million more than the current LSP budget, this will not be a $50 million net increase to the state budget.

Where does this leave families who applied for LA GATOR? On pins and needles, unfortunately.

It’s not just families whose futures hang in the balance. Participating schools are holding seats for families who applied and are awaiting their LA GATOR scholarship to pay tuition and fees. Course providers, tutors, therapists, and others slated to provide educational services for these children are doing the same.

Lawmakers will soon determine funding priorities in the context of the entire $50 billion state budget. The question at hand: to what extent are they willing to empower families to have and exercise educational freedom to support their kids’ needs?

Meanwhile, well over a dozen other states are moving to provide universal eligibility for families in similar programs. Last week, lawmakers in Texas—a state to which Louisiana has long lost its best and brightest in search of jobs and opportunity—approved a $1 billion appropriation for such a program.

Will lawmakers tell these 40,000 families that they’ll have to remain in their zoned government-run schools that they’re seeking to leave? That’s the most likely outcome if LA GATOR isn’t fully funded, as most of the applicants are low-income, will be unable to afford any other option, and the State of Louisiana will pay for their child’s education one way or another. The question is simply whether parents or the government will decide where kids end up.

Learn more about LA GATOR and other educational options at aschoolthatfits.com