A House committee begins holding hearings today on Governor Landry’s spending plan for the next fiscal year. The governor’s office is seeking an $82 million increase in state funding for its corrections department as the prison population has grown. Appropriations Chair Jack MacFarland says some of the additional funding is for offender rehabilitation.
“To rehabilitate them and have them prepared to come back into society as adults, and not end up in the DOC, that does take a lot of effort and a lot of tax dollars,” MacFarland said.
The Office of Juvenile Justice is also seeking a $28 million increase as Louisiana’s juvenile justice system is incarcerating more youth offenders. $15 million will be used to open a new youth prison in Vernon Parish, and MacFarland says they also want to increase staff salaries.
“It takes a special individual to be a guard and work in that environment. And those aren’t jobs a lot of people are lining up for, so we have to compensate those individuals and make it competitive,” MacFarland explained.
MacFarland expects debate over the LA GATOR program, the state’s education voucher program that provides financial assistance to 5,600 low-income families to attend private school. Landry wants to grow the program to help more than just low-income families with their educational expenses. MacFarland says Landry wants to increase funding from $44 million to $88 million.
“There was conversation and questions about LA GATOR, and how some of it is funded and how the money is distributed. Those questions are still being discussed,” MacFarland said.
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