BATON ROUGE — Louisiana voters rejected Amendment 3 Saturday, blocking a proposal that would have restructured several education trust funds in order to fund permanent pay raises for teachers and school support staff.
The proposed constitutional amendment sought to use money from several state education-related funds to help pay down debt in the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana.
The defeat also marks the second consecutive time Louisiana voters rejected a similar proposal. A nearly identical constitutional amendment tied to teacher pay raises and education trust fund restructuring failed at the ballot box in 2025.
Supporters said reducing that debt would create recurring savings capable of funding permanent raises of $2,250 for teachers and $1,125 for support staff.
Opponents argued the proposal removed protections from long-standing education trust funds that have historically supported classroom instruction, textbooks, research programs and early childhood education efforts. Critics also questioned whether eliminating those funds was worth the tradeoff for raises tied to retirement savings projections.
Gov. Jeff Landry and legislative supporters had promoted the amendment as a way to permanently fund educator raises while lowering retirement debt obligations.
Without the constitutional changes, there is currently no automatic or constitutionally guaranteed funding mechanism for the proposed raises. Any future statewide teacher or support staff raises would likely require separate legislative action or annual budget appropriations.
The defeat leaves lawmakers and education leaders searching for other ways to address teacher pay as Louisiana continues to rank behind many neighboring states in educator salaries.
Download the Unfiltered with Kiran app from the Apple App Store and Google Play to stay updated on the latest news across the Capital area.
Support UWK and its mission to deliver The News You Deserve. Unfiltered. Become a monthly patron on Patreon today!
