A Framework for Meaningful, Lasting Reform of Louisiana’s K-12 Education Funding System
Louisiana’s public school funding debate has reached an inflection point. A gubernatorial executive order redirecting $168 million within the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) to fund teacher and school-support-worker stipends exposed a deeper, longer-running problem: the state’s education funding system has grown steadily larger and more complex even as the number of students it serves has fallen. The Legislature’s newly formed MFP Task Force is a welcome step, but a review limited to the formula alone risks missing the structural issues that brought Louisiana to this moment.
This white paper builds on Pelican Institute’s published commentary and testimony before BESE to offer a comprehensive framework the Task Force, BESE, and the Legislature can use to guide reform ahead of the 2027 Regular Session. It rests on a single governing principle: Article VIII, Section 13(B) of the Louisiana Constitution gives BESE the duty to develop and adopt the MFP formula each year, and that authority carries a responsibility to build a system that is honest about true costs, rewards effective local decision-making, and gives every child access to a quality education, whether in a traditional public school, a public charter school, or a non-public setting.
The paper addresses five areas for reform: separating the MFP’s base cost from the policy priorities layered on top of it; correcting how the state funds school employee compensation; helping local school systems capitalize responsibly on new local revenue from economic development; funding real operational transitions for districts facing enrollment decline or chronic low performance; and fully funding LA GATOR alongside, not after, these reforms.
READ THE FULL PAPER HERE:
