CHAPTER 35. LOUISIANA CONSTITUTIONAL EDUCATION FUNDS
PART I. LOUISIANA EDUCATION QUALITY TRUST FUND, hereinafter also
known as the "KEVIN P. REILLY, SR. LOUISIANA EDUCATION QUALITY
TRUST FUND"
§3801. Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund, hereinafter referred to in this Part as the
"Kevin P. Reilly, Sr. Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund"
A.(1) There shall be established in the state treasury as a special permanent trust
fund, the "Kevin P. Reilly, Sr. Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund", henceforth referred
to as the "Permanent Trust Fund". After allocation of money to the Bond Security and
Redemption Fund as provided in Article VII, Section 9(B) of the constitution, and
notwithstanding Article XIV, Section 10 of the constitution, the treasurer shall deposit in and
credit to the Permanent Trust Fund all money which is received from the federal government
under Section 1337(g) of Title 43 of the United States Code which is attributable to mineral
production activity or leasing activity on the Outer Continental Shelf which has been held
in escrow pending a settlement between the United States and the state of Louisiana, except
the first one hundred million dollars so received; twenty-five percent of the recurring
revenues received under Section 1337(g) of Title 43 of the United States Code which are
attributable to mineral production activity or leasing activity on the Outer Continental Shelf;
twenty-five percent of the interest income earned on investment of monies in the Permanent
Trust Fund; and seventy-five percent of realized capital gains and twenty-five percent of
dividend income earned on investment of the Permanent Trust Fund. No appropriation shall
be made from the Permanent Trust Fund.
(2) After six hundred million dollars has been credited to the Permanent Trust Fund
from those monies received from the federal government under Section 1337(g) of Title 43
of the United States Code which are attributable to mineral production activity or leasing
activity on the Outer Continental Shelf which has been held in escrow pending a settlement
between the United States and the state of Louisiana, the sum of fifty million dollars shall
be credited from such monies to the Coastal Environment Protection Trust Fund, as
established in R.S. 30:313; all such funds in excess of seven hundred fifty million dollars
shall be credited to the Permanent Trust Fund.
(3) After allocation of money to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund as
provided in Article VII, Section 9(B) of the constitution, and notwithstanding Article XIV,
Section 10 of the constitution, seventy-five percent of the recurring revenues received under
Section 1337(g) of Title 43 of the United States Code which are attributable to mineral
production activity or leasing activity, seventy-five percent of the interest income earned on
investment of the Permanent Trust Fund, and twenty-five percent of realized capital gains
and seventy-five percent of the dividend income earned on investment of the Permanent
Trust Fund shall be deposited and credited to a special fund which is hereby created in the
state treasury and which shall be known as the Louisiana Quality Education Support Fund,
hereinafter referred to as the "Support Fund". Beginning July 1, 2001, and only as to and in
the accounting of earnings after that date, the treasurer shall account for earnings from the
Permanent Fund in a manner which allocates the earnings between the Permanent Fund and
the Support Fund in the proportions as herein provided as such earnings are realized.
Beginning July 1, 2001, and only as to and in the accounting of earnings after that date, the
treasurer shall account for earnings attributable to Support Fund balances due the boards of
education separately and allocate such earnings to the credit of each board respectively.
(4) All recurring revenues and interest earnings shall be credited to the respective
funds as provided in Paragraphs (1) and (2) above until the balance in the Permanent Trust
Fund equals two billion dollars. After the Permanent Trust Fund reaches a balance of two
billion dollars, all interest earnings on the Permanent Trust Fund shall be credited to the
Support Fund and all recurring revenues shall be credited to the State General Fund.
B. The money credited to the Permanent Trust Fund pursuant to Subsection A of this
Section shall be permanently credited to the Permanent Trust Fund and shall be invested by
the treasurer.
C.(1) The amounts in the Support Fund shall be available for appropriation to pay
expenses incurred for outside investment managers for the investment and management of
the Permanent Trust Fund and for other custody, investment, and disbursement costs directly
attributable to the Permanent Trust Fund, and for educational purposes only as provided in
these Sections.1
(2) The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Board of
Regents each shall annually submit to the legislature and the governor not less than sixty
days prior to the beginning of each regular session of the legislature a proposed program and
budget for the expenditure of the monies in the Support Fund. Proposals for such
expenditures shall be designed to improve the quality of education. Except for monies
appropriated to pay expenses incurred in investment and management of the Permanent Trust
Fund, monies appropriated from the Support Fund by the legislature shall be disbursed to the
Board of Regents and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to be
allocated by them as provided by law or the constitution to the programs as previously
approved by the legislature.
(3) The treasurer shall disburse not more than fifty percent of the monies in the
Support Fund as that money is appropriated by the legislature and allocated by the Board of
Regents for any or all of the following higher educational purposes to enhance economic
development:
(a) The carefully defined research efforts of public and private universities in
Louisiana.
(b) The endowment of chairs for eminent scholars.
(c) The enhancement of the quality of academic, research, or agricultural
departments or units within a community college, college, or university. These funds shall
not be used for athletic purposes or programs.
(d) The recruitment of superior graduate students.
(4) The treasurer shall disburse not more than fifty percent of the monies in the
Support Fund as that money is appropriated by the legislature and allocated by the State
Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for any or all of the following elementary and
secondary educational purposes:
(a) To provide compensation to city or parish school board professional instructional
employees.
(b) To insure an adequate supply of superior textbooks, library books, equipment,
and other instructional materials.
(c) To fund exemplary programs in elementary, secondary, or vocational-technical
schools designed to improve elementary and secondary student academic achievement, or
vocational-technical skill.
(d) To fund carefully defined research efforts, including pilot programs, designed to
improve elementary and secondary student academic achievement.
(e) To fund summer school remediation programs and preschool programs.
(f) To fund the teaching of foreign languages in elementary and secondary schools.
(g) To fund an adequate supply of teachers by providing scholarships or stipends to
prospective teachers in academic areas where there is a critical teacher shortage.
D. The monies appropriated by the legislature and disbursed from the Support Fund
shall not displace, replace, or supplant appropriations from the general fund for the purposes
of implementing the minimum foundation program or displace, replace, or supplant funding
for higher education. For higher education, this Subsection shall mean that no appropriation
for any fiscal year from the Support Fund shall be made for any higher education purpose for
which a general fund appropriation was made the previous year unless the total
appropriations for that fiscal year from the state general fund for higher education exceed
general fund appropriations for higher education for the previous year. This Subsection shall
in no way limit general fund appropriations in excess of the minimum amounts herein
established.
E.(1) No funds appropriated by the legislature and disbursed from the support fund
shall be used to provide training, instructional materials, or other educational assistance
under any of the allowable educational purposes enumerated in Subsection C of this Section
to any person in his capacity as an employee or prospective employee of any entity under a
private management contract with the state nor shall any such funds be used to pay any entity
for expenses associated with training of personnel to provide services to the state under a
private management contract.
(2) A "private management contract" shall be defined for purposes of this Subsection
as any contract entered into by the state or any of its agencies for the operation, maintenance,
or management of any state correctional facility or the management or administration of any
state correctional service.
(3) Repealed by Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 151, §3, eff. July 1, 1999.
F. In lieu of the appropriation or allocation of funds from the Louisiana Quality
Education Support Fund, the legislature shall appropriate annually for vocational-technical
education purposes the amount of three million four hundred thousand dollars.
Acts 1985, No. 949, §1, eff. July 1, 1985, Sept. 6, 1985, and July 1, 1986; Acts 1990,
No. 1002, §1; Acts 1991, No. 747, §1; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 136, §2, eff. Jan. 1,
1995; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 151, §§1, 3, eff. July 1, 1999; Acts 2001, No. 698, §1;
Acts 2001, No. 765, §§1 and 2, eff. June 26, 2001; Acts 2013, No. 56, §1, eff. May 29, 2013;
Acts 2022, No. 374, §1.
NOTE: SEE ACTS 1994, 3RD EX. SESS., §4.
1As appears in enrolled bill.