BESE advances MFP proposal aligning with governor; adds $49.5 million for pay, workforce and tutoring

The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on a motion approved a Minimum Foundation Program proposal that largely holds the MFP at its current base per-pupil level while incorporating three governor-funded line items totaling $49.5 million.

Dr. Hunter Brumley, presenting the MFP recommendations to the Administration and Finance Committee, said the proposal aligns the MFP with Governor Landry’s executive budget and would fold three previously funded items into the formula: a $17.5 million block grant for differentiated compensation, $2 million for internships and apprenticeships, and $30 million for the department’s Accelerate tutoring model.

The additions would be delivered to school systems as block grants and, as Brumley described, the differentiated compensation funds could be used in four categories: high-need schools (those with student populations 90% or greater economically disadvantaged), hard-to-staff content areas (including K–12 special education and high school math and science), teacher leaders who mentor others, and performance/merit pay.

Board members and staff framed the package as a status MFP with targeted investments rather than a broad increase in the base per-pupil amount. Brumley told the board the proposed changes reflect work by an MFP task force and the governor’s budget, and he gave the consolidated dollar total as $49,500,000.

Public commenters urged additional steps on educator compensation. Michael Falk, executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, said including the items in the formula “provides sustainability for programs that are working” and helps districts plan staffing and pay strategies. Richard Baker of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and School Employees said survey respondents ranked salary and raises as the top issue and urged the board to include a cost-of-living adjustment for educators; Baker added, “Teachers and school employees rely on this board to help them with those costs as well.”

Committee members discussed implementation details and process. A board member noted the MFP proposal must be submitted to the legislature by March 15; the board also heard that if the legislature votes the MFP down it reverts to the prior MFP in effect. Members said the task force will continue work on formula revisions and that technical adjustments would be allowed by the department as requested in the motion.

The motion as amended — to submit a status MFP aligned with the governor’s executive budget and to allow Department of Education staff to make technical adjustments — was approved with no objections recorded.

Background and context: presenters said the $17.5 million differentiated compensation block grant is intended in part to reduce teacher vacancies in hard-to-staff subjects; they also described the $30 million tutoring allocation as an effort to meet a legislative requirement that K–5 students not proficient in English or math receive a specified dosage of tutoring, and said the $2 million workforce piece will target internships and apprenticeships with additional weighting for rural systems.