Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Wednesday his plans to preserve the future of the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, or TOPS, scholarship program despite state budget reductions.
“We are proposing a constitutional amendment in the upcoming session that proposes to protect more TOPS dollars by capping the Millennium Trust Fund at $1.38 billion and dedicating funds in the excess of that amount toward TOPS,” Jindal said. “What that means is that will increase the amount of protected dollars going into TOPS by $43 million per year for the TOPS program.”
Jindal said the state currently receives $58 million each year from the Tobacco Settlement, with 25 percent going to the Louisiana Fund for health care expenses and 75 percent going to the Millennium Trust Fund.
He also said these TOPS dollars will increase between the years of 2018 and 2030 as the state pays off the current tobacco bonds.
“Once those [bonds] are paid off, there will be another increase, in terms of protected TOPS funding, in an excess of $70 million,” Jindal said.
Jindal expressed the importance of the amendment to the future of the program, education and the students.
“TOPS has provided nearly 500,000 students the opportunity to get a college education,” he said. “That’s why we must protect this viable program.”
Phyllis Taylor, widow of TOPS founder Patrick F. Taylor, said it remains her mission to fulfill their promise to young people in Louisiana.
“As time goes on and I get older, it is delightful to see that a concept is evolving, as you have been hearing today, that would ensure this program would go on and continue,” Taylor said.
 
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]