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La. losing $156M for solar energy Trump administration cuts program that would lower utility rates
BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Students line up and wait to be greeted Thursday after exiting the bus during the first day of school at Progress Elementary. Last year, the state’s students led the country in post-pandemic reading recovery and made big gains on a national fourth grade reading test.
EYE ON EDUCATION From math reforms to Trump changes and school closures, four K-12 issues to watch this year
BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer
Last school year was a turning point for K-12 education in Louisiana. The state’s students led the country in post-pandemic reading recovery and made big gains on a national fourth grade reading test, surging to 16th place nationally from 42nd place just two years earlier. On Monday, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon is scheduled to visit a Baton Rouge school to celebrate that academic progress. Suddenly, Louisiana is being cited as an education leader, not a laggard. The question this school year: Will it last? “We’re coming off a historic year for education in Louisiana,” said state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley. “We just need to continue with that
momentum.” To do that, Brumley wants to apply the state’s reading-reform strategies to math. He’s also hoping that a revamped school-rating system will spur campuses to up their game — though many educators see the new system as more hindrance than help. At the same time, Louisiana schools could face headwinds this year, including reduced federal Brumley funding and oversight as President Trump dismantles the U.S. Education Department and declining enrollment means more potential school closures. As the new school year kicks off, here are four big education issues to watch in
Louisiana.
A push to multiply math scores After Louisiana’s recent literacy gains, state officials want to make math the new reading. Students have further to climb in math, with Louisiana’s fourth graders ranked 38th on a national math test. But officials insist that the policies they say boosted students’ reading skills — teacher training and coaching, frequent student assessments and intensive tutoring — can achieve similar results in math. A 2023 law required numeracy training for teachers in grades 4-8, since math scores decline in the upper grades, and a law passed this year looped in teachers in grades K-3.
ä See EDUCATION, page 4A
Trump says he will meet Putin in Alaska Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential major milestone after expressing weeks of frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting. Speaking to reporters at the ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVGENIy MALOLETKA White House after announcing a Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th artillery brigade load framework aimed at ending deammunition into a M777 howitzer Thursday before firing toward cades of conflict elsewhere in the Russian positions at the frontline in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine. world — between Armenia and
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ä See SOLAR, page 5A
Towne Center sold to N.Y. company for $81 million New owner specializes in open-air retail centers
BY IANNE SALVOSA and TIMOTHY BOONE Staff writers
soon. Later on social media, he announced what he called “the highly anticipated meeting” would happen Aug. 15 in Alaska. He said more details would follow. The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the details. He suggested earlier Friday that his meeting with the Russian leader could come before any sit-down discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “We’re going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia. And we’ll announce a location. I think the location will be a very popular one,” Trump said.
Towne Center at Cedar Lodge, one of the first open-air lifestyle centers in Baton Rouge, has been sold for $81 million to a New York shopping center operator. A limited liability corporation set up by DLC Management bought the property in a deal that was filed Thursday afternoon with the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court’s Office. The seller was a partnership created by Moody Ramblin, a Houston-based commercial real estate company. DLC specializes in open-air retail centers and owns properties in 21 states. Towne Center will be its first Louisiana property. Towne Center, a 48-acre development located at Corporate Boulevard and Jefferson Highway, opened about 20 years ago.
ä See TRUMP, page 5A
ä See TOWNE, page 4A
Azerbaijan — Trump refused to Leaders to discuss say exactly when or where he meet with Putin, but that ending war in Ukraine would he planned to announce a location
BY WILL WEISSERT and VASILISA STEPANENKO
Louisiana is set to lose $156 million in funding for solar energy after the Trump administration’s move to eliminate the program, a blow to efforts to improve electricity reliability and affordability in a state with some of the nation’s most outages, local officials say. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency canceled the $7 billion program on Thursday that aimed to lower utility costs for nearly a million people across the country. Louisiana’s $156 million grant had already been awarded to the state, which planned to use it to expand access to renewable energy for low-income and disadvantaged families as well as help safeguard residents when storms knock out power. For state officials involved in planning the program — called Solar for All at the federal level, and Solar for Y’all in Louisiana — the news of the cut came in the form of a social media post from EPA administrator Lee Zeldin. Zeldin wrote on X Zeldin Thursday afternoon that the agency no longer has the authority to administer or appropriate the funds “to keep this boondoggle alive” under the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law by President Donald Trump last month.
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