The Legislature has passed the state budget bills, sending them to Governor Landry for signature. The bills include a $51 billion operating budget; $1.2 billion for infrastructure, maintenance, and economic development projects; and over $100 million in favored legislative projects. Unfortunately, they do not include funding to give more Louisiana children access to a school or educational program that fits their needs through the new LA GATOR program. Without a clear focus on priorities and exercising fiscal responsibility, Louisiana will continue to struggle to achieve the comeback we know is possible.

In House Bill 1, the state’s operating budget, lawmakers slashed Governor Landry’s proposal to fund the new LA GATOR K-12 education scholarship program at $93.5 million, cutting it down to $43.5 million. This amount is just enough to fund continuing students in an existing school choice program and approximately 800 of the nearly 40,000 students whose families applied earlier this year.

In addition to supporting children in receiving an education that aligns with their individual needs, the LA GATOR program would have saved money for taxpayers in that (1) per-student funding in the LA GATOR program is significantly less than what taxpayers spend to educate children in government-run schools, and (2) when families choose LA GATOR instead of public schools, the state realizes savings in the state’s Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funding formula.

Louisiana families asked for more educational choices—and their voices went unheard. Without funding for LA GATOR, kids will keep waiting for the opportunities they deserve.

At the same time lawmakers balked at funding students, they spent billions of dollars on miscellaneous projects using longstanding budgeting practices that yield leftover money each year that result from overbudgeting in the previous year. Many of these extra dollars go into the state’s Revenue Stabilization Fund, which serves as a savings account to address unforeseen fiscal challenges in the future, like disasters or economic downturns. Lawmakers redirected $1.2 billion out of that account and chose to spend it on certain infrastructure improvements, higher education maintenance, and economic development projects.

The legislature also spent well over $100 million in grants to local governments and non-governmental organizations, continuing a long tradition of giving certain lawmakers access to spending money at the end of the session for local projects. This staggering amount of money going to non-state efforts was made possible in part by the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference recognizing an additional $60 million earlier this month.

Thankfully, the practice of granting taxpayer money to non-governmental organizations will have added scrutiny in the future. Senate Bill 245 by Senator Heather Cloud creates the “Transparent Responsible Use of State Tax-dollars (T.R.U.S.T.) Act” to create a database of such funded entities, institute reporting requirements, and prevent taxpayer-funded lobbying using such funds. This is an important first step to rein in exorbitant pork barrel spending and ensure that any money granted by the state to non-governmental organization comes with purpose, transparency, and accountability.

Unfortunately, the Senate refused to take advantage of a second opportunity for fiscal responsibility by passing House Bills 283 and 295 by Representative Phillip Tarver. These bills—a statutory bill and a constitutional amendment that would have allowed the people to weigh in on this important issue—would have prevented lawmakers from spending more on recurring expenses than is appropriate given the state’s population growth and inflation. Louisiana’s state spending has grown substantially over the past decade as population has declined, which experts call unsustainable and fiscally irresponsible. If not addressed, the state will remain in a perpetual state of “fiscal crises” and will not be able to deliver tax relief and make Louisiana economically competitive.