LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: April 13, 2023

By: Molly Ryan, LSU Manship News Service

Conservative Louisiana lawmakers’ concerns about spending some of the state’s surplus on teacher pay raises are already stirring up controversy this session.

Education State Superintendent Cade Brumley told the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday that the department’s budget proposal would give an initial $2,000 pay raise to teachers and $1,000 to support workers as outlined in Gov. John Bel Edwards’ budget.

Edwards wants all K-12 teachers to receive an additional $1,000, bringing the total to $3,000, if state revenue projections increase in May.

If that additional revenue becomes available, the Education Department’s proposal, however, calls for putting it into a pool that could be divided differently among teachers. Brumley suggested that teachers in hard-to-fill positions like special education, math and science might receive anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 on top of the basic $2,000 raise.

Read more at Louisiana Illuminator

Published: April 13, 2023

By: Gabby Jimenez, LSU Manship School News Service

State officials are trying to figure out how to remedy a decline in TOPS scholarship participation throughout the state.

The Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, known as TOPS, is a merit-based scholarship funded by the state. The program offers scholarships to Louisiana residents attending public colleges, universities or vocational schools in the state.

Kim Hunter Reed, Louisiana’s commissioner on higher education, spoke to the House Committee on Appropriations Thursday about the declining participation numbers.

As the number of high school graduates in the state has declined, so has the number of eligible TOPS recipients, Reed said. Acceptance rates for TOPS scholarship have also seen a decline, she said.

Read more at Louisiana Illuminator

Published: April 12, 2023

By: Molly Ryan and Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–The House Appropriations Committee discussed Tuesday expanding the budgets for youth, corrections and public safety services as state officials expressed a need to address employee turnover rates through higher salaries.

Corrections Department Secretary James LeBlanc underscored the stressful, difficult work his staff does and noted that shots have recently been fired at probation officers.

Col. Lamar Davis, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, said Louisiana is short 166 state troopers. He believes the state needs to make trooper salaries more competitive, citing that Louisiana’s starting pay for troopers is lower than in neighboring states like Mississippi.

“We have some very good, very smart people out there with good hearts, but we have to pay them,” he said.

Read more at Biz Magazine

Published: April 10, 2023

By: Molly Ryan, LSU Manship School News Service

Gov. John Bel Edwards joined lawmakers at the start of the regular session Monday to outline his agenda in his final state of the state address and call on lawmakers to give pay raises of $3,000 to teachers and $1,500 to support workers.

The state has a $1.6 billion surplus due to floods of federal relief money and increased revenue from a temporary 0.45 percent sales tax increase. One of the big debates this session will be whether to raise the state’s spending limit, which will influence how much of that surplus money is spent and where it goes.

During his address, Edwards reflected on his eight years in office, noting he had inherited a $2 billion deficit in 2016 and will leave behind $2 billion in emergency savings for his successor in addition to the $1.6 billion surplus this year.

Edwards also struck a personal tone to advocate again for legislation that he framed as pro-life, including paid family and medical leave, equal pay, exceptions for rape and incest with abortion and an end to the death penalty.

Read more at WRKF

Published: April 5, 2023

By: LSU Manship School News Service

Nine students from LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication and the
Southern University Law Center won a national investigative reporting prize this week for
stories re-examining the shooting deaths of two Southern students by a sheriff’s deputy in 1972.

The prize–for the best investigative work in 2022 by students at large universities–was awarded
by Investigative Reporters & Editors, the largest organization of professional investigative
reporters and editors.

The four-part series, published last fall, was based on dozens of interviews and nearly 2,700
pages of previously undisclosed FBI documents. It prompted Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards
to apologize to the families of the victims on behalf of the state.

Edwards said he was six years old when the shooting happened and that all he knew about it
came from reading the stories by “a group at LSU who actually did the cold case investigation
and have been working on this to educate people.”

Read more at Bossier-Press Tribune

Published: April 5, 2023

By: Molly Ryan, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — The Legislature convenes Monday (April 10) for the start of the 2023 session, and lawmakers, blessed with a large budget surplus, are at odds about whether they should raise the state’s spending limit.

Thanks to an influx of federal dollars from hurricane and pandemic relief and an increase in revenue from a temporary 0.45 of a penny sales tax hike, the state is expected to have a $1.6 billion surplus, and the fight over the expenditure limit will greatly influence how much of that money is spent.

The state constitution requires a portion of the surplus to go into a rainy day fund and other savings, leaving the Legislature with about $500 million in additional spending power without exceeding the cap.

Sen. Gerald Boudreaux, D-Lafayette, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, generally agreed with Cortez, noting that some parameters should be in place for lawmakers to raise the expenditure limit.

Read more at Verite News

Published: March 27, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship News Service

State Sen. Sharon Hewitt plans to author a bill that would allow members of the disabled community to participate remotely in state committee and board meetings.

A Senate task force on remote operations of public entities voted Friday to suggest guidelines for how statewide bodies can hold their meetings remotely.

The guidelines aim to provide flexibility for board and commission members from all over the state who must travel to meet in person and to accommodate members of the disabled community so they can participate in government, according Hewitt, a Republican from Slidell who is running for governor.

Read more at Louisiana Illuminator

Published: March 8, 2023

By: Claire Sullivan and Gabby Jimenez | LSU Manship School News Service

Tony Plohetski, an Austin American-Statesman reporter who spent weeks covering the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, got a late-night call that was a turning point in the massacre’s coverage.

“Come get the video,” the call’s source told him.

The gut-wrenching, 77-minute security camera footage showed law enforcement officers standing idly by for over an hour while a gunman fired shots in a closed elementary school classroom.

Plohetski and his top editor, Manny Garcia, spoke to students at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication on Monday about the video’s consequences and what it was like to cover one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The gunman killed 19 children and two teachers.

Read more at the Reveille

Published: March 1, 2023

By: Gabby Jimenez, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Service) – The Task Force on State Recognition of Indian Tribes met Wednesday, March 1, for the last time without establishing any set criteria for recognizing tribes in Louisiana.

House Bill 660 established the Native American Commission in 2018 to promote Native American culture and identify the needs facing that community. One member from each of the 15 tribes already recognized serves on the commission.

Part of the commission’s responsibility includes establishing clear criteria for tribes seeking formal state recognition by the Legislature.

The task force was formed during the 2022 legislative session to look further into the issue. Senate Resolution 198 says the task force was scheduled to end by March 1, 2023.

Read more at KPLC

Published: Feb. 17, 2023

By: Molly Ryan and Claire Sullivan, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE − Gov. John Bel Edwards proposed a budget Friday that includes a $2,000 pay raise for K-12 teachers that could climb to $3,000 if more money becomes available.

He also called for a $1,000 pay raise for support workers at schools.

Those basic raises would cost the state about $200 million each year. Teachers could receive the additional $1,000 raise, bringing the total increase to $3,000, if the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference increases its revenue projections again in May.

Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said that would finally push teacher salaries in Louisiana to the Southern regional average and cost an additional $74 million annually.

In unveiling his final budget proposal, Edwards touted his sixth year in a budget surplus after inheriting a $2 billion deficit in his first term. Edwards’ second term ends in January.

Read more at The Daily Advertiser