2018 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 248
BY SENATOR MORRISH
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to explain how
the minimum foundation program formula is calculated to ensure funding of the
unfunded accrued liability of state retirement systems.
WHEREAS, the Constitution of Louisiana, Article VIII, Section 13(B), requires that
the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) develop and adopt a
formula annually that shall be used to determine the cost of a minimum foundation program
(MFP) of education in all public elementary and secondary schools as well as to equitably
allocate the funds to parish and city school systems; and
WHEREAS, BESE has created an MFP formula to determine the minimum cost of
education based on the education needs of each student, and the MFP formula determines
a per-pupil amount that is distributed as a block grant to all public schools, including charter
schools; and
WHEREAS, the MFP formula does not explicitly take into consideration whether a
school participates in the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana or the Louisiana School
Employees' Retirement System; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution of Louisiana, Article X, Section 29(A), provides that
the state shall guarantee retirement benefits payable to teachers and other employees of the
public educational system; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution of Louisiana, Article X, Section 29(E)(1), requires that
the actuarial soundness of state and statewide retirement systems shall be attained and
maintained, and the legislature shall establish the particular method of actuarial valuation
employed by the systems; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution of Louisiana, Article X, Section 29(E)(2)(c), requires
that the legislature provide for the amortization of the unfunded accrued liability of the state
retirement systems existing as of June 30, 1988; and
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WHEREAS, the unfunded accrued liability existing as of June 30, 1988, is a legacy
cost referred to as the initial unfunded accrued liability (IUAL); and
WHEREAS, in East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, et al v. Louisiana School
Employees' Retirement System, the First Circuit Court of Appeal found that the requirement
that the legislature appropriate funds for employer contributions payable to the state
retirement systems is satisfied where the legislature appropriates funding to the school
boards through the MFP block grant, so funding the normal cost or UAL payment as a
separate line item is not required; and
WHEREAS, the UAL payments attributable to public kindergarten through twelfth
grade employers and owed to the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana and the
Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System are funded with MFP money; and
WHEREAS, some charter schools, although recipients of MFP block grant money,
do not participate in the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana or the Louisiana School
Employees' Retirement System.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby urge and request the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to
submit to the Senate an explanation of how the MFP formula is designed to fulfill the
legislature's obligation to fund the unfunded accrued liability of the state retirement systems
as well as the legacy cost of the state retirement systems otherwise referred to as the IUAL.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Teachers' Retirement System of Louisiana
and the Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System are requested to provide any
calculations of unfunded accrued liability attributable to either system as may be requested
by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be forwarded to the
State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Teachers' Retirement System of
Louisiana and the Louisiana School Employees' Retirement System.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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