
It has the feeling of déjà vu. Every time there is talk of a budget shortfall, there’s talk about cuts to higher education. It’s happening yet again, which is unfortunate, since increasing education attainment in Louisiana needs to be one of our top priorities.
As of now the state is looking at a potential budget shortfall for the next fiscal year of anywhere from $587 to $787 million. That’s because a state sales tax of .45 cents is scheduled to expire, a portion of the existing vehicle sales tax is slated to be removed from the State General Fund, and recent increases in income tax collections could trigger an automatic income tax cut.
As a result, higher education has been asked to prepare for a budget cut of $250 million, an amount that would be devastating by any measure.
Whether that happens remains to be seen, but it would be ironic if it does. As much as anything else, Louisiana needs a more highly-trained and educated workforce. And that’s what higher education does.
Historically, Louisiana has had one of the lowest rates of educational attainment in the country. Yet it is also an area where we are seeing progress. In 2019, the Board of Regents set an ambitious goal of ensuring that 60% of the state’s working-age population has a postsecondary credential of value. At the time only about 44% of our workforce met that criteria. Today, new data show it’s up to 51% and trending in a way that suggests we are within reach of meeting that goal by 2030. That’s a pretty big deal.
One of the reasons for that progress is that the number of students in high school who are earning some form of college credit or credential continues to grow. In 2023-24 alone, more than 41,000 students took part in dual enrollment programs, an increase of 12% over the prior year. We are also placing a greater focus on our adult citizens who may have taken some college courses or received some sort of military or specialized training, but did not earn a degree or credential. And we are beefing up our financial aid offerings to help people already in the workforce improve their skills.
Why is all of this so important? Because our economy, job growth, and the future prosperity of our state depend upon it. If we are serious about addressing the outmigration problem that everyone is talking about, we need to do many things. One of them is to have a more highly-educated workforce that is trained in more diverse fields.
According to data from the Board of Regents, of the more than 255,000 job postings in 2023 that specified education requirements, 51% required an associate’s degree or more. Another 18% preferred a candidate with an industry-based credential.
That’s the situation today. A new study by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce tells us more. It looks to the future of employment and the opportunity to land a “good job” in the year 2031. It defines a “good job” in Louisiana as one that pays at least $39,700 today for someone between ages 25-44 and $51,000 for ages 45-64.
The good news is the study projects that there will be a lot of those opportunities available to the workers of the future. But, they will be strongly tied to their levels of education. Georgetown predicts that the number of good jobs for those on the bachelor’s degree career path will grow significantly over the next several years, while the opportunities for workers on the middle-skills and high school pathways decline. That’s challenging news for Louisiana.
It’s also why the Board of Regents’ education attainment goal is so important. There will be more good jobs available for Louisiana workers who are more highly-educated and trained. If our colleges and universities produce that skilled workforce, there is a better chance those good jobs will come, new workers will follow, and our own people will stay.
Which brings us back to where we started. When we have set big goals in education, developed a sense of urgency, and made appropriate investments, we have seen progress. Big budget cuts have never been part of that equation.