Two days after the House Appropriations Committee proposed a budget that cuts funding for early childhood education and teacher pay, the full House unanimously advanced their own version of the budget that adds back some money for teacher stipends.
Gov. Jeff Landry proposed a budget with enough funding to give public school teachers a $2,000 stipend each. The House Appropriations Committee lowered that to about $1,300 per teacher.
The full House opened its budget debate by increasing funding for stipends, bringing them closer to — but still below — the original $2,000.
Rep. Jack McFarland, the chairman of Appropriations, said the funding does not have to be distributed to teachers evenly. That would be up to individual school districts.