John Bel Edwards
Special to the Contraband
Students in Louisiana deserve better than what they’ve gotten from their state government over the last eight years. I’ll be the first to tell you that. The previous administration put the needs of an out-of-state special interest ahead of your own and made you pay the price for a political agenda. That stopped on January 11th.
Unfortunately, the damage was done. Over the last eight years higher education institutions were severely weakened and Louisiana’s budget now sits atop the largest deficit our state has ever seen. Year after year, these budget deficits were patched using budget tricks and temporary funds. The state wrote checks to corporations it couldn’t afford, which left students with higher tuitions and campuses unable to invest in your education. In fact, Louisiana ranks fourth in the nation for subsidies to big business, double what the state of Texas pays, yet our higher education institutions were cut by more than $700 million – the largest disinvestment in the nation.
Today, we’re faced with two dramatically different choices in Louisiana – bring in additional revenue or make deeper cuts to higher education that will force campus closures, class cancellations, and jeopardize the highly popular TOPS scholarship – a program I’ve fought year after year to protect. The $940 million shortfall this year that must be fixed in 4 months and the $2 billion shortfall for next year will need to be addressed with a combination of spending cuts and additional revenue – doing one without the other would be irresponsible.
I have called the Louisiana Legislature into a special legislative session to address these challenges, and I have proposed several measures to avoid devastating cuts to our universities and community and technical colleges. Unfortunately, because of the mismanagement of the state’s finances over the last eight years, higher education will face, in a best case scenario, $70 million in cuts very soon. However, if the legislature does not work with my administration to bring in additional revenue, those cuts will increase to a catastrophic $200 million before June. Next year, that number is even bigger.
The TOPS program is already operating this year at a shortfall to the tune of $28 million. I have directed the universities to absorb those costs, preventing students from having to pay for someone else’s reckless budgeting. However, next academic year, the program, if underfunded, will award scholarships to far fewer students – both current recipients and those expecting the award next year. I have outlined several proposals to avoid these cuts. While I do not like the plans that I have proposed, they are necessary to begin the process of reinvesting in our young adults and universities.
Your support is critical in this process. There are some in the legislature who are only interested in playing political games – who are determined to make our state capitol look like Washington, DC. I refuse to let that happen. I refuse to fail you, our students and young adults, in that way. Louisiana’s future depends on you getting a quality education that will land you a good job here at home. We’ve already seen too many of our young adults leave Louisiana for jobs and education in other states. That cycle must end.
Together, we can rebuild the future of Louisiana.
if you want to save TOPS and stop healthcare cuts reject your increased welfare benefits -- start there.
ReplyDeletestop spending on people who do not work and use the system - if you need to be drug tested for a job than you also need to be drug tested for welfare benefits and all these benefits should have a time limit--not for a lifetime, if you are young and healthy.
That's the most ignorant nonsense I have read in a very long time. The facts are that only about 18% of Louisianans do not struggle through some form of poverty, nearly half a million Louisianans are jobless, and nearly half a million Louisianans require Medicare or Medicaid, so your desire to do everything possible to deprive Louisianans of desperately-needed assistance is nothing short of unadulterated garbage. I do find it disturbing, though, that every single Louisiana politician has ignored one of the most obvious solutions to at least a portion of our fiscal crisis, namely the legalization of the sale and taxation of recreational marijuana. Apart from that, there is no sound reason for anyone to trash a one-cent sales tax that, of all of the governor's economic proposals, would bring in the most revenue. I just can't understand people's tenacious adherence to radical right-wing ideology that is nothing less than a proven public-policy failure.
DeleteSpoken by someone who has never been down on their luck. I understand how comfortable it is to have a silver spoon in your mouth, but until you've lived in the shoes of a poor person, your opinion is void. The idea that someone can just up and get a job is the problem with the small few who are against welfare. Statistically speaking, the small percent that actually believe the garbage you spew are the most likely to comment hate and idiocracy on on newsfeeds and social media platforms. I bet you believe abortion is wrong as well. Let me get this straight, unborn babies from poor communities deserve a chance to live so you can hold them back from bettering themselves in the future. What you fail to admit is your hatred for another race. The majority of the population is tired of reading your crap. So please hold back your need to spread sin and go back into the whole in which you came from.
DeleteJBE, you said nothing new. The same thing you said on that fateful Thursday when you crushed the dreams of so many young Louisianians. Quit spouting political rhetoric, and do what you promised, which started with no new taxes. TOPS is the only program that does not discriminate against the working citizens of this state. New taxes will further cripple the working citizens of this state. We don't trust you or any of the "politicians" who made this mess with their wasteful spending. I blame Jindal and I blame you. You and the rest of the crew in BR are the reason we have no money to operate. Take a cut. See how it feels.
ReplyDeleteBelow is my recent e-mail to Lt. Governor Nungesser. I urge all my Louisiana friends to write him (ltgov@crt.la.gov) and express to him how you think legalizing the sale and taxation of recreational marijuana would benefit Louisiana. Feel free to use any part of my e-mail or use it as a point of departure.
ReplyDeleteLt. Governor Nungesser:
You said recently in an interview with KLFY, “I just don’t think it sends the right message that we’re going to legalize [recreational marijuana] because we have a budget problem.” First, I understand and respect your ideological objection, but I fail to comprehend to whom you perceive this message is being sent, if not to the citizens of Louisiana, to whom you are beholden and have agreed to protect and defend. Wouldn't the message of marijuana legalization actually be that you are genuinely interested in curtailing our fiscal crisis? Furthermore, I do not understand how anyone's fear of how a message could be perceived is grounds for disregarding what could possibly be the single-most significant solution, not only to Louisiana's fiscal problems, but persistent problems in Louisiana with poverty, joblessness, infrastructure decrepitude, educational decay, and a continuing erosion of Louisianans' health and welfare. I urge you, Sir, to measure right action, not by means of ideology, but by the extent to which Louisianans' lives will be improved. In doing so, look at those states in which the sale and taxation of recreational marijuana have been legalized, measure how their citizens' lives have improved, and based on that, reconsider legalization here in Louisiana. Thank you.