This week on The Founders Show - could Gov. Jeff Landry’s school voucher program require a renewal of a 45-cent sales tax?  And how could the 10 Commandments legislation actually avoid religious establishment complaints because school vouchers exist?

Then the discussion moves on to Donald Trump‘s plea to leave abortion to the states. Could his stance make pro-lifers abandon him?

And we close with a few words about the 250th anniversary of a great love story of two of The Founders of our nation.

Hy and Christopher begin the show discussing how ESAs would provide scholarships to families of four making $75,000.

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Monday evenings, early in the Legislative Regular Session, are usually relaxed occasions for conversation and crawfish. On April 8, the tables were set up in the Pentagon Barracks courtyard for just that, mere steps from the Capitol Building. Crawdads, shrimp, vats of lima bean succotash and pastas, strawberry shortcake and extensive libations were waiting by 5 p.m., the time the La. House normally adjourns for the day at that point in the session. Yet, there were no legislators to be found.

By the time that they arrived two hours later, looking beat up and exhausted, a contentiously divided La. House had managed to pass HB745, or the Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (LA GATOR) Scholarship Program, by a vote of 72-32, but with considerable wounded feelings.

Some Democrats called the legislation “vouchers for the rich,” while others like Black Caucus member and New Orleans Rep. Jason Hughes made impassioned speeches on the bill’s behalf. Hughes argued that his life took a far different course due to the full scholarship to Jesuit High School, which opened opportunities for a young Black man and a kid from the inner city might never have otherwise had.

The comments led fellow New Orleans Democratic Rep. Mandy Landry to note that the restrictiveness of private school entry policies could close the doors on many applicants from similar backgrounds as Hughes.

In contrast, most Republicans and a few Democrats also argued that the “vouchers for the rich” perspective was misleading, noting that the ESAs would direct state funding for school tuition and expenses to families making less than 250 percent of the poverty level, or approximately $75,000 for a family of four. As one put it, it might extend the scholarships into the working middle class, but “nobody thinks a family of four making $75,000 is rich.” It was a point that several legislators repeatedly emphasized – countering press accounts in the daily paper that implied the ESAs were not capped at working-class income levels.

In point of fact, the caps discussion led the debate to a discussion of whether the state could afford the scholarship program. Defenders like GOP Rep. Polly Thomas of Metairie noted that the ESAs would remain limited to the current voucher pool in year one. In year two, needs-based ranking would limit growth. By year three, however, the program would expand to its full potential student base – at least 41,000 students – yet legislative appropriators had the discretion to limit the size of the program based on revenue realities.

Still, how to pay for that increase if offered to all eligible, estimated by the Legislative Fiscal Office at a cost of $258 million, remained the question for which few legislators had answers. In fact, several legislators privately mused at the crawfish boil afterwards, would other revenue sources be required, including the sales tax set to expire next year?