La. Education Legislation: Final Update of 2015 | deutsch29 #flipbese

La. Education Legislation: Final Update of 2015 | deutsch29:

La. Education Legislation: Final Update of 2015

On May 29, 2015, I wrote a post that was a Louisiana legislative update.

During the Louisiana legislative session, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) issues a weekly legislative digest of education-related legislation. (Archived digests can be found here.)

In this post, I would like to offer some highlights from the June 12, 2015, LFT Digest, the final one for the session. I also add some other bill info at the end of this post.

I added links for each of the bills mentioned. The links include comprehensive information on each bill. (Note that this search engine allows one to track any bill nationwide: LegiScan Search Engine.)

Schools Get Last-minute $36 Million Bump

Just as he did two years ago, Rep. John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) found a way to increase funding for schools even after public education’s Minimum Foundation Program formula had been rejected.

As the session drew to a close, the Senate finally approved Rep. Edwards’HCR 231, which calls for an additional 1.375%, or $36 million, to be included in the budget for public education. It had been held up while waiting for the House to take a crucial vote on the controversial SAVE plan. (See more on SAVE plan below.)

Once the House approved the scheme that makes Gov. Bobby Jindal’s final budget appear to be revenue-neutral, the Senate voted unanimously to okay the resolution. Because the legislature is allowed to either accept or reject the MFP, but not change it, Rep. Edwards’ resolution calls for the additional money to be appropriated outside of the funding formula. However, it asks Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to recognize the additional funding and include it in the MFP to be adopted for the 2016-17 school year.

The additional funding increases the base student allocation from $3,961 to $4,051, and ensures that raises granted to classroom teachers last year will be continued this year.

Lawmakers Okay COLA; Jindal May Veto

Governor Bobby Jindal may poke state retirees in the eye one more time before following his presidential aspirations to Iowa, New Hampshire and 

La. Education Legislation: Final Update of 2015 | deutsch29:

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