With five days left in the Legislature’s special session, students are concerned with the fate of TOPS scholarships and the rest of the state’s budget. 
Last week, Governor John Bel Edwards announced a potential midyear budget cut to state education spending that would not hurt any essential services. The state would cut $4.4 million out of state education budget, only 0.3 percent of the $1.6 billion budget the state uses for the Department of Education. 
One area that would be cut is $400,000 used for meals at a week long development conference teachers attend every summer. 
“If they can still go to the conference and get whatever they were going to get out of it before and just not have their meals paid for then yeah, scale it back,” says LSU Early Educations major Baleigh Callaghan.  
After the state’s special session concludes, regular session starts on March 14 and lasts until June 6.