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Students, parents and opponents clash at Finance Committee over LA Gator scholarship funding
Summary
Public testimony included support from scholarship students, parents and Catholic groups for the LA Gator Education Savings Account program and an opposition statement urging lawmakers to prioritize public-school funding instead; the House had included a large appropriation that some parents favor and some advocates oppose.
Dozens of speakers from Baton Rouge and other parishes urged senators to fund the LA Gator Education Savings Account program or to preserve public education funding, illustrating a sharply divided public response.
Supporters from Gardere Community Christian School—students, parents and school leaders—testified that the scholarship enables low-income neighborhood children to access smaller classes and specialized instruction. Student Radiance Bailey said, “Our school is very different from others. It gives us great opportunity to learn more about others and about ourselves in Christ.” Another student, Dylan Martinez, told senators the school provided “a caring school, more 1 on 1 learning, small classes and kind teachers.” School leaders stressed the scholarship supplements but does not fully cover tuition and that their institutions fund the remaining cost through fundraising.
Tom Costanza of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops expressed institutional support and said the program helps “break the cycle of poverty.” Teach-for-America and other education advocates also spoke in support of expanded educational options and teacher pipelines tied to classroom outcomes.
Opposition testimony came from Malika Wyche, a parent and taxpayer, who asked the committee to remove the appropriation from HB1 and instead “prioritize the urgent needs of our public school children.” Wyche noted an estimated House appropriation figure of about $93 million for the program and urged restoring cuts to early-childhood and public-school COLAs instead of creating a new voucher-like entitlement.
Committee members heard both sides: senators acknowledged systemic underfunding of public schools and said the Gator debate reflects larger decisions about education policy and resource allocation. Several senators said they wanted to balance public-school fixes with parental choice tools.
Ending: The committee did not vote on the program. Senators asked for additional fiscal modeling and distributional impacts before making a final decision on whether to keep the House funding levels.
