Senate committee shrinks LA GATOR and education funding to address deficit

Published: May 21, 2026

By: Veronica Camenzuli, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – After a 30-minute meeting with no debate, a Senate committee voted 9-0 to advance the state budget Thursday, removing the $43.5 million expansion of the school voucher program that had been included in the House and governor’s budgets.

The Revenue Estimating Conference had reduced next year’s state general fund forecast by $104 million on May 8, prompting the Senate Finance Committee to advance amendments to remove the expansion to the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise voucher program.

The committee also removed the change in the public-school funding formula that would increase per-student spending.

The cut in LA GATOR and education funding would amount to a $75 million reduction in spending.

The committee added an amendment that would allow the Legislature to spend $800 million from the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, with $387 million of it used for transportation projects. Economic development, local projects, capital outlay, higher-education projects and Medicaid rate increases for disabled residents accounted for the rest of the spending.