Gov. Jeff Landry tied pay raises for judges, prosecutors, firefighters, elected officials and possibly thousands of other state government workers to compensation for teachers Monday when he declared “nobody in state government” would get a pay raise if public school teachers don’t receive one.

It’s the first comment from the governor since voters soundly rejected five amendments to the Louisiana Constitution on Saturday, including four Landry personally campaigned to approve. Amendment 3, backed by the governor, would have given K-12 school teachers and support staff a permanent pay raise that’s mostly been covered through temporary stipends the past three years.

“In light of Amendment 3 falling short, I want to make it very clear — if our teachers don’t get a permanent raise this year, nobody in state government gets a pay raise. I mean nobody,” Landry wrote .

The governor posted his statement online while visiting Greenland as a special envoy for President Donald Trump.

Louisiana lawmakers, who are in session through June 1, have been considering salary increases for judges, prosecutors, Landry’s cabinet secretaries, firefighters in the state agriculture department, election workers and statewide elected officials, including the governor.

A bill to give the governor and other statewide elected officials a pay raise also includes new allowances, housing stipends and other forms of , though it wouldn’t raise their salaries.

Thousands of state workers across every state agency are also supposed to receive small pay increases this year through routine, annual “market rate adjustments” to their compensation. These hikes cost a total of $84.8 million for classified workers and $3.6 million for unclassified employees in the current budget proposal, according to the legislative fiscal office.

Landry’s office has not responded to requests for comment about whether his pay raise opposition applies to positions such as prosecutors, who are paid with a mix of local and state funding. It’s also unclear whether the governor’s declaration would affect routine “market rate adjustments” thousands of state government employees are expecting.

The governor’s staff also hasn’t provided clarification about whether Landry supports the legislature finding a new way to give teachers a permanent pay increase or another temporary stipend. His X post didn’t make it clear whether he wanted lawmakers to move forward with a teacher pay cut now that Amendment 3 failed or find a way to backfill the money.

Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, has said multiple times lawmakers in this year’s budget if Amendment 3 failed.

Without the stipends, public school teachers and school support staff would see pay cuts of $2,000 and $1,000, respectively, in the 2026-27 academic year.

As they ponder teacher pay, lawmakers already face a significant financial shortfall and have to make reductions to the budget plan the Louisiana House approved last month.

The state lowered its revenue projections a week and a half ago by $113 million for the current budget cycle and $104 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The drop in revenue is largely the result of personal income and corporate tax revenue coming in lower than expected after Landry and the legislators reduced the taxes in 2025, state economists said last week.

On top of making those cuts, state lawmakers would have to find $200 million in order to maintain the stipend for teachers and support staff. It would be even more expensive to give out the permanent $2,250 and $1,125 raises attached to Amendment 3.

“We would be hard pressed to find $200 million,” Senate Finance Committee chairman Glen Womack, R-Harrisonburg, said Monday.

Democratic leaders in the legislature have already said they will fight against a pay cut for teachers.

“The stipend should be permanent at a minimum and increased at best,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Kyle Green of Marrero said. “We are absolutely going to be pushing for the stipend to be made permanent.”

“My personal preference is we find a way to fund that,” Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Gerald Boudreaux of Lafayette said. “There’s going to have to be a whole lot of conversations.”

“It’s not going to be Republicans or Democrats. It’s going to have to be the will of the legislature,” Boudreaux said about avoiding a teacher pay cut.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, who helped build the state budget plan, said he would also push back on any proposal to make the state firefighters’ raise contingent on a teacher raise.

Even if teachers receive a pay cut, McFarland said the firefighters’ raise, which would cost $5 million, should remain in the budget. Currently, state firefighters make $28,000 per year as an entry-level salary. The pay bump would increase that amount to $38,000 and is needed to attract candidates, he said.

“I can’t agree with [the governor] on that,” McFarland said of tying all state raises to those of teachers.

Amendment 3, which 58% of voters statewide rejected, would have freed up money to give teachers and support staff permanent raises by dissolving three public education trust funds that help pay for early childhood education, universities and other K-12 school programs.

The fund balances would have been used to pay off employee retirement debt at K-12 school districts and universities early to make money available to cover the educators’ salary increases.

Henry has previously said the public’s decision to vote down the amendment indicates they aren’t interested in a pay increase for teachers.

But Amendment 3 who has angered Democratic and Black voters in recent weeks over his handling of the congressional elections.

An opposition campaign urging people to “Vote No on All” five constitutional amendments as a means of protesting the governor . It likely contributed to the voters rejecting all the constitutional amendments, regardless of their content.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

OKLAHOMA CITY — A $2,000 teacher salary increase advancing through the Legislature has raised concerns among school district leaders of whether state funding will support its total cost.

The Oklahoma House approved the teacher pay raise, outlined in , by a vote of 92-1 on Tuesday, more than a month after . The legislation, which returns to the Senate for final review, would add $2,000 to the state-mandated minimum salaries for Oklahoma teachers and certified school employees.

Although lawmakers budgeted $100 million for the pay raise, some district leaders said their schools likely will have to pay out of pocket to cover the full expense, especially if they already pay above the minimum salary schedule for teachers.

The $100 million allocation is part of a budgeted for public education.

House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the extra money should be sufficient for districts to raise their teachers’ salaries, regardless of whether they pay at or above state minimums.

“If districts are on the formula and pay above the minimum now with existing funding, they can pay them $2,000 more with nearly a quarter billion in new public education funding, $100 million of which is specifically dedicated for teacher pay,” Hilbert said in a statement.

Districts already paying above the state minimum wouldn’t be legally obligated to provide a full $2,000 increase. But, teachers in those districts still should push for a $2,000 raise, Hilbert and other legislative leaders have said.

The extra state funding coming to Midwest City-Del City Public Schools would cover just under 80%, or $232,000 short, of the cost to increase the district’s teacher salaries by $2,000, Superintendent Rick Cobb said.

Raising a teacher’s salary by $2,000 comes at a true cost of $2,500 when factoring in added teacher retirement expenses and higher payroll taxes, he said.

Although the district already pays well above the state minimum, Cobb said “I don’t think our teachers are going to accept us not giving them a $2,000 raise when we go into negotiations.”

“I know one of your questions is going to be about whether (lawmakers are) fully funding the raise, and in our case, they’re not,” he said. “So, I think that needs to be part of the conversation, too, is that our teachers are going to expect a $2,000 raise. Our teachers are making less than the cost of living increase that inflation is bringing into their lives. So, without an infusion into the salary schedule, their buying power is less and less every year.”

As district leaders put together a budget for the next fiscal year, Cobb said Mid-Del schools still are going to try to make a $2,000 raise work.

“I’m not sure exactly how right now, but we’re going to try,” he said.

The small northeastern Oklahoma district of Peggs pays at the state minimum but completely covers teachers’ retirement contributions, saving each educator $3,000 to $4,000, Superintendent John Cox said. Teachers in the rural district also “wear many hats” and are compensated for fulfilling multiple roles.

Cox, also a Republican candidate running for state superintendent, said he expects Peggs would have to pay a small amount out of pocket to cover the total cost of the $2,000 raise when considering retirement and fringe benefits.

The bigger challenge, he said, is affording the rising payroll while operational expenses, like bus diesel and maintenance, also increase year over year.

The state budget doesn’t raise funding for schools’ operational costs, even though lawmakers are in 2027-28.

“There’s a definite balancing act,” Cox said. “We’re required to pay the teacher pay raise. Then what do you do with operational costs and what do you forgo to be able to pay those teacher pay raises? What in the maintenance area and in the operational costs do you cut to be able to make those pay raises?”

State lawmakers touted the pay increase as the latest of multiple steps in improving Oklahoma teacher salary levels. The Legislature last approved teacher raises in 2018, 2019 and 2023.

Oklahoma’s current average teacher salary is fourth among all bordering states and second in the region when factoring in cost of living, . The average starting salary for teachers in the state is still ranked toward the bottom of the region, even when considering cost of living, the agency reported.

The state’s largest teacher union, the Oklahoma Education Association, said it is “grateful to lawmakers for making another investment into competitive teacher pay.”

“Even if districts already pay above the minimum, we hope that they will use the funding that will be provided by the state to give all teachers the full $2,000 raise,” the organization said in a statement Wednesday. “They deserve it.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.