Louisiana legislators meeting on March 9 for their regular session will eventually have to confront a number of requests for additional funds in education. Topping the list are teachers who want another raise higher than the $1,000 increase they received last year.

Childhood education advocates managed to get $20 million last year, but they insist $86 million is needed annually to meet the state’s needs for childcare assistance. It is important to educate children from birth to age 3 to properly equip them for kindergarten.

Only about half of the Louisiana students in kindergarten through third grade are getting the reading training they need, and $15 million is needed to set up reading programs in schools.

Gov. John Bel Edwards and others want to make it possible for some high school students to take college courses at the same time. That, too, is going to require additional funding.

Higher education got its first funding increase in a decade last year, but it doesn’t come close to making up for budget reductions over that same time. The state Board of Regents has requested an additional $155.6 million in the next fiscal year’s budget.

Edwards said he wants to get the state’s teachers up to the Southern pay average over the next four years, which they trail by $1,819. Louisiana teachers average $50,359 per year, and the Southern average is $52,178. The average pay nationally is $60,642.

Leaders of three teacher groups believe they should receive increases faster than the governor’s timetable. The say the problem is that other states are also increasing their teachers’ salaries. Texas increased its teacher pay by up to $9,000, Georgia by $3,000 and Florida by $2,000.

The Advocate in one of its editorials noted that a serious commitment to education will keep young people from leaving Louisiana. The newspaper talked about the investment in higher education being stalled for nearly a decade.

We saw that change in recent years, but much more needs to be done. How a more conservative Legislature responds remains to be seen. When budget surpluses started appearing, some lawmakers began talking about cutting taxes.

One tax that was targeted was the 0.45 percent increase in the state’s 4-percent state sales tax that helped make those surpluses possible. It expires in 2025, and should stay on the books until education’s needs are met.Education funding graphic