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Landry’s teacher stipend plan forces 5% cut to school districts.Landry’s teacher stipend plan forces 5% cut to school districts Superindents express concerns to BESE this week as deadline looms for lawmakers to vote on plan BATON ROUGE, La.(WAFB) - Education leaders across Louisiana are grappling with how to fund annual teacher stipends after voters rejected a constitutional amendment last month.Jeff Landry’s proposal would dip into the Minimum Foundation Program to pay for $168 million in one-time teacher stipends, excluding administrators.The plan would amount to a 5% cut from each school district.Superintendents from rural areas took to a BESE board meeting Tuesday to express their concerns about the Governor’s plan.Ronnie Morris, a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member representing District 6, said the bedrock of this conversation should be the progress the state has made in educational rankings.“We need to do a better job of communicating that message to the general public as you know, Louisiana has improved over the last five years from 49th nationally to 32nd,” Morris said.“It’s unprecedented in history of the state, and that’s an incredible tribute to our teachers.” Amendment Three, which failed May 16, was designed to pay down debt within the teacher’s retirement system to make way for permanent pay raises for teachers.Kevin Birkin, BESE finance chair, said districts face uncertainty about sustaining the cuts.“Most the people that I talk to in my area are able to sustain one year; if they gotta go more than that, then there’s going to be some serious cutting some serious issues,” Birkin said.Rural districts face tough choices The proposed 5% cut will look different depending on which school district, but superintendents in rural areas are telling the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education the plan will be difficult to manage.Preston Castille, who represents District 8 on BESE, said the cuts could force drastic measures.“It will lead to positions being cut; there are school districts that will close schools as a result of it,” Castille said.Castille represents rural areas on BESE, along with Ascension and East Baton Rouge parishes.Both of those districts have voted to give teachers pay raises separate from the governor’s proposal.“What they’re grappling with is do you reduce the permanent pay raise for this year to accommodate the stipend or do you try to find the additional money to provide the pay raise and the stipend,” Castille said.Superintendent for Pointe Coupee Schools, Kim Canezaro, told WAFB she supports the state’s effort to pay teachers, but a 5% cut to their operating budget would force tough decisions about vital programs.The plan needs a two-thirds vote for approval in both the state House and Senate.Education leaders said that is an uphill battle given that superintendents have made their concerns public.The deadline to vote is June 23 at 5 p.m.The governor has said administrators will not be included in the pay plan, but school districts have told BESE that if they are forced to make changes to their budget, they will include all employees who received a stipend last year, according to Birkin.The governor’s office said the plan is not a cut to the budget, but rather a restructuring of the existing funding formula.Click here to report a typo.Please include the headline.Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.