Teachers get paid. Schools pay.

Gov. Jeff Landry wants to redirect $168 million from Louisiana’s public school funding formula to preserve teacher and support-worker pay stipends next year.

Why it matters: The proposal would keep educators from seeing a pay cut while leaving school systems with $168 million less to spend elsewhere in their budgets.

The debate: Landry argues districts can absorb the reduction through efficiencies and reserve funds. School leaders counter that rising costs for insurance, fuel and other expenses are already straining budgets.

The payoff: The money would be used to pay stipends of $2,000 for teachers and $1,000 for school support workers, the same amounts they have received over the past three years.

What’s next: The proposal now heads to lawmakers, who must approve the funding shift.

Local angle: This comes at a time when the East Baton Rouge school district is already dealing with declining enrollment and a budget that projects lower revenue. Any reduction in state funding could further limit the district’s financial flexibility.

The bottom line: Preserving a teacher stipend by shifting money from elsewhere in the public school funding formula sets up a debate over how much room districts have left to absorb the revenue loss.