Editor’s Note: a guest post by Erin Bendily, senior vice president, Pelican Institute for Public Policy.

Louisiana lawmakers made a bold statement last year when they allocated $150 million to launch the FastSites initiative—a proactive effort to prepare industrial sites with infrastructure before companies commit. In today’s competitive economic environment, shovel-ready property matters. Businesses move where timelines are short, risk is reduced, and states demonstrate readiness.

FastSites reflects smart thinking. Preparing land in advance removes barriers to private investment and signals that Louisiana intends to compete for advanced manufacturing, logistics, energy, and technology projects.

But shovel-ready land alone does not create prosperity.

If Louisiana is serious about long-term growth, it must be just as serious about supporting current—and preparing future—shovel-ready workers.

The state’s current academic performance data underscores the urgency. According to the most recent LEAP assessment results, only 35 percent of Louisiana students scored at “Mastery or above” (proficient) in core academic subjects. While progress has been made in recent years, a majority of students are still not meeting proficiency benchmarks.

Meanwhile, thousands of Louisiana families—many of whom are in our current workforce—are trying to get help for their children to attend a school or participate in a homebased educational program that better meets their needs.

Those children represent our future workforce.

When companies consider where to locate or expand, they look beyond tax incentives and infrastructure. When they bring jobs and workers to our state, they ask where their kids will go to school or if they’ll have to add wages to accommodate private school tuition. They examine the local workforce quality. They ask whether graduates have the literacy, numeracy, technical skills, and adaptability required for modern jobs. A development-ready site without a development-ready workforce limits economic return.

That is why prioritizing full funding of Louisiana’s LA GATOR Scholarship Program should be viewed not merely as an education policy debate, but as an economic strategy.

LA GATOR, the state’s first Education Scholarship Account program, allows families to direct education funding toward approved services that best meet their children’s needs, including nonpublic school tuition, courses, curricula, therapies, essential instructional materials. It injects parental choice, responsibility, and competition into the education system—principles that not only align with a free-market approach to governing, but also strategies that research has shown to improve outcomes.

Demand for the LA GATOR program has been overwhelming. In its first application cycle for the 2025–2026 school year, nearly 40,000 students applied. Of those, just under 35,000 were determined eligible. Yet the Louisiana Legislature approved just enough funding to support about 700 new scholarships.

Governor Jeff Landry has proposed approximately $88 million for LA GATOR in the upcoming state budget. That would sustain current students in the program and add some more, but it wouldn’t be enough to meet demand in the program’s first phase.

The issue, then, is one of priorities.

Last year, the Legislature found $150 million for site readiness because it concluded that economic competitiveness required it. Lawmakers make tradeoffs every session. They fund what they deem essential.

Preparing land for future employers was deemed essential.

Supporting current workers and preparing students for future careers with those employers should be as well.

Infrastructure investments are visible and tangible. But the long-term return on investment from human capital may be even greater. Roads and utilities depreciate. Education compounds. A skilled graduate contributes to the economy for decades.

Ignoring Louisiana’s talent pipeline—both for the next generation and for families seeking better options today—would be shortsighted. Economic development is not a one-year initiative. It is a long-term strategy that depends on sustained workforce quality.

FastSites reduces barriers to capital investment. LA GATOR reduces barriers to educational opportunity. Both strengthen Louisiana’s competitive position.

If the state wants businesses not only to come, but to stay and grow, it must prepare both the land and the people who will power its economy. Louisiana’s economic future depends on prioritizing both.