News

BESE delays decision on funding plan

by Walter Pierce

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has stalled action on a $3.5 billion annual school funding formula due to state lawmakers by March 15.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has stalled action on a $3.5 billion annual school funding formula due to state lawmakers by March 15.

BESE members said Friday that they wanted more time to work on the spending proposal, which would pay for the operations of 69 public school districts for the 2014-15 school year.

The state's top school board planned to hold a special meeting next week to devise a final version.

The board embraced recommendations to increase spending on technical training and special education. Members also support including a $69 million increase that lawmakers approved this year in the permanent formula.

But there are disagreements about what else the financing plan should contain.

Lawmakers can only approve or reject BESE's proposed formula. They cannot change it.