BATON ROUGE — A 15-person bipartisan panel held its first meeting to look at restructuring how Louisiana funds its public schools, with the goal of getting teachers permanent pay raises without raising taxes.

Gov. Jeff Landry announced the panel earlier this year. The group is tasked with reviewing the state's minimum foundation program, known as the MFP, which determines how school funding is distributed.

The state Capitol drew superintendents and school board members ahead of the meeting. State Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, is one of the lawmakers on the panel working through the funding formula.

McFarland hopes the MFP becomes easier to understand and distributes support to teachers and students more evenly. The group plans to look at how different districts receive and spend state money to make sure funds aren't being wasted.

"I typically have seen more misspending in heavily populated areas than I have in less populated areas," McFarland said.

East Feliciana school board member Rufus Nesbitt spent more than three decades in the classroom before joining the board. Nesbitt says district leaders have had to make tough choices to keep nearly 2,000 students on track, including cutting the school week from five days to four last year.

"Back in my day, we fought for the MFP, that is to give money to those deprived kids that don't have money," Nesbitt said.

The committee is expected to have a plan ready by the end of the year to present at the next legislative session.