Take down the sacred cow, and you eliminate the shock value from the equation.
Keep that in mind between now and June 4, when Louisiana legislators haggle on how they will fill the anticipated budget shortfall -- $994 million, as of this writing – once the “temporary” 1-cent sales tax falls off the books after June 30.
Lawmakers from both sides of the floor came into the regular session Monday with high hopes that they would preserve the one-time “sacred cow” we know as the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS).
The program, which has provided tuition exemption for eligible Louisiana high school graduates since the late 1990s, was spared from the budget ax until 2016, when a $600 million deficit prompted the Legislature to slash 40 percent from the funding of the program.
The move infuriated lawmakers from both sides of the floor, most notably Denham Springs Republican J. Rogers Pope, a former Livingston Parish School Board superintendent and proponent of increased funding for education.
Amid the strife and hostility among lawmakers – sometimes within their own party – on how they will remedy the budget woes, both sides say they want to fully fund TOPS.
They have made the promise the same time they still have no definitive measure in place to close the budget gap, even if it dips to $700 million with a windfall from President Donald Trump’s tax plan.
The opening day of the session gave us the typical pageantry, pomp and circumstance and high hopes for the next 90 days of work, but we can likely expect the same dissension to prevail, at least at the onset.
Even amid the niceties, Republican and Democratic lawmakers seemed skeptical at best over the chances they will find common ground on the impending budget woes. Should they not reach an agreement on a combination of cuts and creation of new revenue – which is the route they’ll most likely pursue – we will find lawmakers pulling at straws in the final days and hours to stop the bleeding.
Enter TOPS, which has swelled to a $300 million program. It’s very possible that we could see the same scenario we saw in 2016 when legislators found themselves down to the final hours and few options to stop the fiscal hemorrhage.
Yes, TOPS could likely fall victim to the budget gap in some sort of way during the session, aside from the proposals to raise standards that will already go before the Legislature.
Once the cow is no longer sacred, it’s ripe for the butcher shop, even with a program as vital to Louisiana as TOPS.
