BATON ROUGE — Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order giving Louisiana teachers $2,000 pay raises, but the money to cover those raises is not coming from the state legislature.

Instead, individual school districts are being asked to find the money in their own budgets, and some say the mandate could hit them hard.

On average, Louisiana teachers make $55,000 a year. That is more than $10,000 below the national average.

Landry wants to shift $168 million in student funding to allow teachers to receive $2,000 stipends this year, with permanent pay raises to follow next year.

"Over the next twelve months, the focus goes back to where it belongs, and that is on the teachers," Landry said.

Stephen Procopio, president of Louisiana's Public Affairs Research Council, put it plainly.

"Some people have said this is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. I don't quite agree. This is like robbing Peter to pay Peter," Procopio said.

"The state is not putting in new money. They're going to use money that is constitutionally guaranteed, and they're going to take that money and give it back to the school systems in order to give the pay raise," Procopio said.

Individual districts say the mandate could affect other services, and smaller districts may not be able to make the payments at all.

Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Larry Carter said districts will have different experiences depending on what each can afford. Some districts were already planning to give raises to their own teachers.

"Absolutely," Carter said when asked if there is a fear that the raise could lead to layoffs.

"But what we think might happen is those districts that do not have healthy balances, not just their budgets but also their reserves, could be tasked with not being able to afford — so it becomes an unintended consequence," Carter said.

For this year's pay raises to take effect, two-thirds of the legislature must vote in favor of the governor's plan.