Lawmakers advance education savings accounts for parents

Published: May 31, 2024

By: Elizabeth White, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Senate on Thursday gave final approval to a stripped-down version of one of Gov. Jeff Landry’s biggest priorities—a move toward education savings accounts that could provide state money to parents who want to send their children to private schools. 

Senators voted 23-14 to concur with House changes to a bill that would authorize education officials to consider the accounts. But the compromise version would delay the implementation of the plan and make it easier for the Legislature to scale back the funding. 

State officials and private experts had estimated that Landry’s original plan would have eventually cost taxpayers $300 million to $500 million a year. Some lawmakers were concerned about the cost since the state will lose several hundred million in revenue when part of the state sales tax expires next year. 

Read more at KTBS.