Lawmakers turn down school board term limits

While Gov. Bobby Jindal has had his way with lawmakers thus far on fiscal issues, legislators bowed up a bit on Wednesday and denied him and Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek one of the school board reforms they sought.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, the House and Governmental Affairs Committee voted down HB 664, Rep. Steve Carter's (R-Baton Rouge) proposal to limit school board member terms to 12 years. Opponents accused the administration of overreaching, saying that term limits should be decided by the voters in a school system, not imposed by the legislature.

Committee members hammered Carter on another of his bills, HB 371, which is intended to limit the ability of school superintendents to hire their relatives. Opponents say there are already nepotism laws in effect, and questioned whether Carter's bill would have unintended consequences.

Carter temporarily withdrew his bill from consideration in order to reconsider some of its language.

For much more coverage of legislative issues, check out the Louisiana Federation of Teachers' Weekly Legislative Digest at this link.