House to meet Thursday to decide fate of teacher pay cuts

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana lawmakers advanced a state budget proposal Tuesday that would cut public school teacher pay and reduce the number of early childhood education seats available next school year in favor of other education initiatives.The House Appropriations Committee put forward a spending plan that reduces a $2,000 pay stipend teachers received this school year to just $1,300 next year, saving the state $71 million.It cut $24.3 million out of early childhood education, resulting in a lo