An East Baton Rouge Parish judge granted a temporary restraining order to block Governor Landry’s executive order to reallocate $168 million in the state’s public school funding formula to provide stipends for teachers. Greg Beuerman, the spokesman for the three plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the order, says it’s unconstitutional.
“He has entrenched on the separation of powers between the executive branch and the legislative branch, and he’s attempting to do things by re-allocating funding that only the state legislature has the ability to do,” Beuerman explained.
The court will hold a hearing to determine whether the restraining order should stand on June 29th.
The court ruled the executive order’s bypassing of the legislature violated the separation of powers. Beuerman says the order takes away authority from the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“There are many, many needs in the field of education. There’s a right way and a wrong way to go about addressing them. The plaintiffs feel as though the governor has chosen the wrong venue,” Beuerman said.
The executive order does require a two-thirds majority vote from legislators via virtual ballot for approval. Beuerman says while the constitution does provide for remote voting outside of a legislative session, it’s only in extraordinary scenarios.
“That vote that is scheduled to take place remotely, virtually, no later than the 23rd of this month, will not go forward,” Beuerman noted.