Proposed cuts would sting local students

Tri-City area schools and high school seniors will be greatly affected if Gov. John Bel Edwards’ proposal for closing the $750 million budget cut presented is approved by the Legislature.

According to The Associated Press, Edwards personally revealed his recommendations to the House Appropriations Committee with the opening statement: “I wish I had better news. I don’t. But we’re going to live in the real world.”

The spending plan is for the 2016-17 fiscal year that begins July 1.

Edward’s proposal cites that the TOPS program will not be fully funded. The program will be cut by $183 million. All students would still be awarded but the amount would be decreased by 66 percent.

“These kids right now, their whole lives they’ve known about TOPS,” Morgan City High Guidance Counselor Melody Turner said. “It has provided an opportunity where a number of their parents will come in and say, ‘We couldn’t do this’ or ‘We couldn’t go to college’ and the kids strive for this. … For the average child, that’s been a godsend.”

Turner’s own children benefitted from TOPS. But Turner and her husband still provided financially for their children to attend college.

“They were able to have part-time jobs, carry full loads, and both of them were able to graduate from college with no debt,” Turner said. “I thought that was wonderful. I hate to see something like that not be available for these kids.”

Under current law, that level of financing only pays for students with ACT scores of 26 or higher. But lawmakers are considering a bill that would make across-the-board cuts so all students eligible for TOPS would get some tuition financing, reported The Associated Press.

In times of a budget shortfall, the minimum ACT score requirement is automatically increased for TOPS.

If this does occur, approximately 17,400 students would qualify for TOPS next fall and spring. That is a significant decrease from the 51,000 recipients this year.

“They’ve been given a ‘yes, you can go’ and now all of a sudden it’s being pulled from right under them,” Turner said.

The TOPS budget cut would minimally affect South Central Louisiana Technical College, Young Memorial Campus, because of the low number of TOPS students who attend.

Overall, the TOPS budget is less than $100,000, South Central Louisiana Technical College Director Earl Meador said.

But “the TOPS cut is very difficult for our system as a whole,” Meador said. “South Central Louisiana Technical College is only minimal because we have a minimal number of students that depend on TOPS. It is much worse at the community college. And at Nicholls, it’s devastating.”

On a positive note, as a result of TOPS cuts, the Young Memorial campus could see an influx of students coming its way due to affordability. But Meador is concerned about having enough resources for students.

“Right at the same time, the governor is now cutting our budget significantly. So we don’t have any more to work with,” Meador said.

The plan also proposes that the K-12 public school financing formula would be cut by $50 million. The financing formula for colleges would lose $46 million. For private schools, close to $16 million in assistance would be taken away.

The governor proposed to cut $6 million from the state’s voucher program, which provides taxpayer-financed tuition to private schools. Funding would still be provided for 7,100 students, but schools would receive 14 percent less for each student.

The Associated Press and Times Picayune contributed to this article.