Steve Gardes
Budget priorities: LA GATOR
Governor Landry stated in 2024 that Universal School Choice programs would be a top priority, as Louisiana’s public school system ranked 46th in the nation and demographic experts were saying “better public schools” are the major reason young families leave Louisiana for Texas, Florida and Georgia. The Legislature quickly passed the LA GATOR program that allows parents to use public funds to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, or other approved education expenses. Louisiana parents (like parents in every other state who adopted school choice programs) know that every child learns differently and were elated that they would finally be in-charge of their child’s education spending rather than the government. Over 39,000 families have applied for the LA GATOR program.
However, Senate President Cameron Henry has stated for the second consecutive year he is not going to increase the amount allowed for the LA GATOR program (presently $44 million for 5,600 students) because of budgetary and “does it really work” concerns. Governor Landry wants $88 million for 12,000 students. TIME OUT!!—let’s talk about state priorities based on what “We The People Want” when it comes to education spending and what works!
It is common knowledge that declining student enrollment in public schools is squeezing school district’s finances. The Senate should tell us if spending on the public schools is declining in line with declining student enrollment (state per-pupil spending 2019 - 2025): if not, why not?
It is now common knowledge that 97% of 2,700 Parents participating in LA GATOR are satisfied with their children’s academic progress and recommend the program (La. Dept. of Education survey). Sounds like it really works!
It is also common knowledge that waste, fraud and abuse on Medicaid spending is huge. In 2021 our State Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera, CPA, CFE, retired and gave us these parting words of concern: “Medicaid was my greatest challenge as it was growing so fast; a huge issue was the level of Medicaid error and fraud which the GAO had estimated to run about 10%--Medicaid is now $16 billion of the state budget--meaning fraud could be running $1.6 billion every year. I made major changes that had resulted in savings, but these positive changes were later reversed—this was not good government.”
The Senate needs to prioritize LA GATOR, and Medicaid Fraud savings can pay for it. Assume Louisiana’s share of the $1.6 billion fraud savings would have been 20%, or $320 million—more than enough for the $88 million that Governor Landry wants for LA GATOR. The Trump Administration just announced that all 50 states will need to “own” their Medicaid fraud problems and increase their antifraud efforts in 2026. Sounds like good government!
Steve Gardes is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) with over 40 years of public accounting experience.
