Louisiana
Louisiana education faces budget cuts. Here’s how the ‘fiscal cliff’ happened in the state
Radiance Technologies I-Bowl’sClaire Rebouche talks about the teams
Radiance Technologies I-Bowl chairperson Claire Rebouche talks about the teams
The budget for Louisiana education is facing up to $250 million in possible cuts for the 2025-2026 school year in order to make up for the state government’s deficit.
These budget cuts will potentially affect both preschool education and higher education institutions.
While legislation has trepidations when it comes to refusing money to preschools, it is possible that preschools will not be immune to budget cuts.
Louisiana education system faces possible budget cuts for the 2025-2026 school year
According to Invest in Louisiana, these budget cuts are a result of the “fiscal cliff” Louisiana is said to face in 2025, which will be when $650 million in tax revenue is anticipated to roll off the books.
State legislature created the fiscal cliff, however, it can avoid the budget cuts by renewing, or replacing, the tax revenue, says Invest in Louisiana.
According to the Louisiana Board of Regents, in light of the $0.45 sales tax ending in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the Board of Regents was tasked to create a plan for higher education institutions to accommodate a $250 million reduction.
What does this mean for Louisiana universities?
The Louisiana Board of Regents presented a higher education budget in Sept. 2024. Highlights from the presentation include discussions surrounding the increase in the total cost of operations, updates on campus enrollment, financial outlook priorities and concerns about the impact of budget cuts.
In addition to this, budget cuts within higher education institutions would result in program reductions, faculty layoffs, increased staff workload, as well as the reduction of scholarship funds.
Potentially $50.4 million, or 20.3%, will be reduced from scholarships including TOPS, Go Grants, RCP, the Patriot Scholarship and GO Youth ChalleNGe.
Louisiana
After redistricting battles, Southern gathers for Juneteenth celebration: ‘Continue the fight’
Hundreds of community members, alumni and students gathered Thursday to observe Juneteenth on the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge.
The theme of the festivities was “celebrating freedom through culture and community,” but weeks after Louisiana’s bitter redistricting battles, the speakers Thursday morning had one message driving their remarks: Get out and vote.
“Freedom does not come in on the wheels of inevitability,” Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice John Michael Guidry said to the crowd. “But it takes the prodigious work and the tireless efforts of those who are willing to continue the fight.”
Great Beginnings summer camper Myni, 4, gets a hello kitty face painting during Southern’s Juneteenth celebration on Thursday, June 18, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
The speech kicked off a day of discussions and cultural events centered on the holiday of Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger brought news of emancipation to enslaved people in Texas more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
Speakers at Southern emphasized the need for protection of hard-won rights for Black Americans in the context of redistricting. The sentiments followed a contentious state legislative session that ended with the elimination of one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.
“That Voting Rights Act is under attack,” Guidry said. “There’s voter intimidation, there’s voter suppression, there are voter ID laws and all types of laws and legal decisions that are trying to deny us our right to vote, and we are the ones who have to go forward and litigate these issues.”
The day opened with a libation ceremony and a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Southern University student Claire Floyd.
Southern University alumnus Jeanet Cazenave said she felt it was important to celebrate Juneteenth on campus as not only a relative of the first dean of Southern University but also a descendant of the GU272, a group of enslaved individuals who were sold to plantations in Louisiana in 1838 by Jesuit priests to pay the debts of what is now Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Juneteenth “means everything,” Cazenave said. “It means the past, the present and the future.”
BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Governor Landry has officially declared Louisiana under state of emergency.
The state emergency declaration covers Avoyelles, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Tammany and Terrebonne parishes.
The declaration was issued Thursday following the impacts of Tropical Storm Arthur, which brough rainfall and strong storms to parts of the state on June 17 and 18.
Officials said the National Weather Service has confirmed three tornadoes tied to the storm system.
Officials also reported record or near-record rainfall totals in Avoyelles and Pointe Coupee parishes over a 12-hour period.
The order allows the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to coordinate resources and provide assistance to local governments if needed.
Certain state purchasing and bidding requirements have been temporarily suspended to speed up emergency response efforts.
The declaration took effect immediately and will remain in place through July 18 unless it is lifted or extended.
State officials are urging residents to stay weather aware, avoid flooded roadways and follow guidance from local emergency managers.
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