LFT left an impression on evaluation bill

The value of engagement over confrontation was proven this week when Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the controversial new teacher evaluation bill into law as Act 54 of the 2010 legislature.

Even though the LFT never endorsed the bill, the union was deeply involved in making a bad piece of legislation better than it would have been.

There was never any question that the bill would pass. It sailed through the House Education Committee without opposition, was overwhelmingly adopted by the House, was only opposed by one member of the Senate Education Committee, and was signed by the governor just half a day after adoption by the Senate.

With that kind of muscle behind it, the law could have been passed without any input from teachers. But because LFT President Steve Monaghan was willing to engage, and author Rep. Frank Hoffmann was willing to listen, the bill wound up substantially improved.

Because the Federation worked with Rep. Hoffmann, the bill ensures that teachers will have a process to challenge evaluations they believe are inaccurate. The evaluation will account for factors beyond a teacher's control, including the socio-economic status of the students. There will be an advisory committee, which includes a majority of teacher members, to oversee development of the evaluation instrument.

Most important, there will be a two-year phase in of the new system. If the advisory committee reports that it is not working as it should, the education committees of the House and Senate will be able to halt the program.

The very best news coverage of the bill's passage was by Times-Picayune reporter Bill Barrow, who wrote:

The end product is the result of considerable negotiations among the Jindal administration,
(Rep. Frank) Hoffmann, (Sen. Ben) Nevers and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. LFT President Steve Monaghan never
withdrew his opposition of the bill, saying "value-added" methodology is still
too new to codify. But he helped craft a final version with considerably more
protections for teachers than the initial proposal.

The state's other teachers union, the Louisiana Association of
Educators, argued vehemently throughout the process against the bill and was not
an active participant in any alterations.

Barrow's full report is here.

The State Department of Education also acknowledged LFT's participation in this press release.

How bad can it get?

How bad can things get for public education in Louisiana? As the old song says, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

On Monday, the Senate Finance committee killed any hope of increasing funds for public schools when it refused to increase public education’s Minimum Foundation Program by the traditional 2.75%.

Then on Tuesday, the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference revealed that we face yet another shortfall of perhaps as much as $100 million this year. That’s on top of the $319 million budget hole already confronting lawmakers as they struggle to balance the state ledger.

Anticipating a dark economic future, school boards around Louisiana are announcing Reductions in Force. In plain English, that means they are firing teachers and school employees.

The state has a “rainy day fund” that should be tapped to help stave off the growing crisis. But a deep and profound disagreement between the Senate and House of Representatives is keeping that fund off-limits.

Both Senate President Joel Chaisson (D-Destrehan) and Speaker of the House Jim Tucker (R-Terrytown) say they are willing to withdraw $198 million from the fund to help plug the budget hole. They have very different opinions about how and when the fund should be paid back, and that is stalling any movement on the issue.

Sen. Chaisson says the law allows the state to repay the rainy day fund when state revenues reach the peak of the post-Katrina economy of 2008. Rep. Tucker says the state must repay the rainy day fund next year, using revenues from a tax amnesty program.

If Rep. Tucker prevails, it means the rainy day fund cannot be tapped again next year, when another budget deficit is already projected. According to Sen. Chaisson, Rep. Tucker’s plan is therefore “absolutely pointless.”

The Revenue Estimating Conference must certify that rainy day funds are available for use. But decisions by the Conference must be unanimous. Both Sen. Chaisson and Rep. Tucker are Conference members, and until they come to an agreement, there will be no movement to fix the budget.

What are we to make of this awful situation?

LFT President Steve Monaghan says state leaders simply are not focused on the real issues.
“There is mounting evidence that this session is all about things that it should not be about, and is not facing the real issues,” says Monaghan. “They should be focused on the fiscal crisis, not just for teachers and school employees, but for all the citizens of Louisiana.”

For certain, this is a case of chickens coming home to roost. When the state seemed to be in good economic shape, lawmakers and governors doled out hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary and unwise tax giveaways to corporations and high-income earners. Anti-tax demagogues rolled over anyone who questioned the wisdom of severely reducing state revenues.

And as bad as the situation is now, the governor and legislature still refuse to consider any revenue measures. The mantra of the Jindal administration is “we must do more with less.”

The sad truth is, you can’t do more with less. You can only do less with less. Until the administration and legislature come to grips with that reality, Louisiana faces a bleak future indeed.

Value-added evaluation bill progresses

As a new form of teacher evaluation took another step toward becoming law on Thursday, it was clear that the Louisiana Federation of Teachers has played a major role in shaping the bill, even while remaining opposed to its adoption.

HB 1033 by Rep. Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe) would make a new, relatively untested science called the "value added model" an integral part of teacher evaluations in Louisiana. The VAM would add a component to teacher evaluations that measures the progress made by students. While LFT believes there is merit to the concept, the Federation is concerned that writing it into law is premature. The union would prefer to see the VAM field-tested before becoming policy.

But it is obvious that the bill has strong support in the legislature and in the governor's office. After passing by a 68-26 margin in the House of Representatives, the Senate Education Committee approved it with just one member, Yvonne Dorsey (D-Baton Rouge) opposed. Its passage is almost universally regarded as assured.

Faced with that certainty, the Federation chose to engage with Rep. Hoffman in hopes of making it a better bill. In that, the union succeeded.

Because the Federation worked with Rep. Hoffman, the bill ensures that teachers will have a process to challenge evaluations they believe are inaccurate. The evaluation will account for factors beyond a teacher's control, including the socio-economic status of the students. There will be an advisory committee, which includes a majority of teacher members, to oversee development of the evaluation instrument.

Most important, there will be a two-year phase in of the new system. If the advisory committee reports that it is not working as it should, the education committees of the House and Senate will be able to halt the program.

Success of VAM focuses attention on “Red Tape” bill

The apparent success of the value-added evaluation bill makes it essential that lawmakers oppose another of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education initiatives. HB 1368 by Rep. Jane Smith, known as the “Red Tape Reduction and Local Empowerment Waiver Program,” would conflict with the new evaluation system and result in very bad public policy.

While the value added plan attempts to impose a standard, unified evaluation in all school districts, HB 1368 would allow school systems to opt out of virtually all the laws and policies that govern our schools. The teachers in those systems would have no voice at all in determining how those waivers would affect teaching and learning.

If HB 1368 passes, teaching and learning conditions would vary greatly from district to district. But all teachers would be held to a single evaluation standard under HB 1033.

LFT President Steve Monaghan told the Senate Education Committee that it would be impossible to test the value added model if the state abandons consistency in other areas of public education. That collision course of conflicting laws adds up to very bad public policy, Monaghan said.

To learn more about HB 1368 and send to the Senate Education Committee a message opposing it, please click here.

The value of engagement

As a new form of teacher evaluation took another step toward becoming law on Thursday, it was clear that the Louisiana Federation of Teachers has played a major role in shaping the bill, even while remaining opposed to its adoption.

This article by Times-Picayune reporter Bill Barrow clearly explains why it is important to maintain a dialog with lawmakers.

Rep. Frank Hoffman's HB 1033 will make a new, relatively untested science called the "value added model" an integral part of teacher evaluations in Louisiana. While LFT believes there is merit to the concept, the Federation is concerned that writing it into law is premature. The union would prefer to see the VAM field-tested before becoming policy.

But it is obvious that the bill has strong support in the legislature and in the governor's office. Its passage is almost universally regarded as assured.

Faced with that certainty, the Federation chose to engage with Rep. Hoffman in hopes of making it a better bill. In that, the union succeeded.

Because the Federation worked with Rep. Hoffman, the bill ensures that teachers will have a process to challenge evaluations they believe are inaccurate. The evaluation will account for factors beyond a teacher's control, including the socio-economic status of the students. There will be an advisory committee, which includes a majority of teacher members, to oversee development of the evaluation instrument.

Most important, there will be a two-year phase in of the new system. If the advisory committee reports that it is not working as it should, the education committees of the House and Senate will be able to halt the program.

These changes were not enough to earn LFT support for the bill. But they make it much, much better than it was. That cooperation led to a moment of comity during the hearing. As Barrow writes, "Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, said his group maintains its opposition to writing 'value-added' assessments in state law, saying the developing method is too new to codify. But Monaghan praised Hoffman for working on changes to the bill over the course of the session. Hoffman returned the praise. "

New R2T proposal is a rehash

The state's proposal to win funding in the next round of federal Race to the Top applications will be a virtual mirror of the application that failed to make the grade in March, according to State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek.

One main difference will be that, instead of the $30 million the state hoped to win earlier, the most Louisiana can hope to get in the second round will be $175 million, according to this story by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

Teacher tenure attack collapses

A state representative's effort to curb teacher tenure in Louisiana came to a screeching halt on Wednesday when the lawmaker realized that no one had his back.

Well, almost no one. But we'll get to that.

Rep. Steve Carter (R-Baton Rouge) said that he introduced HB 1250 at the request of school principals. The administrators had told him horror stories about tenured teachers, Carter said, and he wanted to streamline the process of termination.

Among the canards foisted onto Carter was the false assertion that it takes three years to terminate an unsatisfactory teacher.

Carter's bill would have given principals the authority to recommend that school boards terminate teachers. Currently, only the superintendent can make that call, upon a principal's recommendation.

It also would have stripped a teacher's right to be paid for time lost if termination is reversed by a court of law.

The big surprise came when Carter took the witness table in front of the House Education Committee to introduce his bill. He simply asked the panel to shelve it.

Carter said that none of the principals who told him they really, really needed his bill showed up to support him before the committee.

“I told them that I would bring the bill if they would stand behind me,” Carter said. "When I called them they said they were busy and couldn't do it.”

As it turned out, the only support Carter had for his bill came from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the Council for a Better Louisiana.

So the score in support of Carter's bill came out: educators, zero; shills for big business, two.

Advocate reporter Will Sentell covered the meeting for this story.

Learn moe about the LFT's position onteacher tenure - please click here.

“Red Tape Reduction” bill sails through House of Representatives

Undeterred by the objections of teachers, the House of Representatives approved Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature education legislation, HB 1368 by Rep. Jane Smith (R-Bossier City), by a 68-20 margin. The fight to stop this misleading and mislabeled bill will now move to the Senate, with its first stop at the Education Committee.

If signed into law, the “Red Tape Reduction and Local Empowerment Waiver Program,” would allow school boards and their superintendents to apply for waivers for virtually all state laws and policies regarding education. The waivers would be granted by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The bill is, according to LFT President Steve Monaghan, the most dangerous piece of legislation facing public education this year. Potential results of the bill could:

• Water down teachers’ tenure protections
• Allow increased class size
• Eliminate teacher salary schedules in favor of “performance based pay”
• Discourage hiring veteran teachers by adopting “student-based budgeting”
• Give principals control over budgets, including salaries, supplies, resources, etc.

Despite heavy pressure from the governor’s office, some members were spirited in their opposition to the bill. Rep. John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) predicted that the bill will cause havoc if it becomes law. Allowing BESE, which is not a law-making body, to decide which laws could be ignored, “is bad public policy,” Edwards said.

Edwards said the legislature is careening toward a “schizophrenic” education policy, in which school superintendents and boards might adopt risky strategies that could “fall on the backs of the teachers.”

Rep. Robert Johnson (D-Marksville) said he fears that in an attempt to make all schools operate more like charter schools, important protections for teachers would be set aside.

Rep. Sam Jones (D-Franklin) noted that no other agencies in the state have been given the authority to grant exemptions from laws passed by the legislature. Rep. Edwards responded that he doubts the plan would pass constitutional muster.

Rep. Herbert Dixon (D-Alexandria) said that as school budgets shrink, the bill will tempt school board to cut instructional services.

“BESE won’t have a problem granting the waivers,” Dixon said. “It is a means by which local school boards can address budget needs.”

“This will hurt parents and children,” Dixon said.

Fiscal crisis: eight colleges may close

Louisiana Board of Regents officials warned the Senate Finance Committee today that eight higher education campuses may close as a result of planned cuts to the state budget.

LSU System President John Lombardi included in joint testimony the loss of entire campuses, along with reduced freshman and sophomore classes at 4-year colleges as necessary to replace $300 million that will not be available to higher education in FY2011. According to Lombardi, as much as one-third of the higher education system could be lost.

Even with efficiencies and tuition increases, warned Regents officials, deep and substantial cuts are inevitable with the budget reduction. They predicted a 15-year setback in state higher education.

"Sadly, this is not the first wake-up call we've had about a crisis in higher education," said Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan. "But it begs the question: When will we listen? Losing an entire generation of students is simply not an option."

To read the rest of this story, please click here.
Advocate reporter Jordan Blum covered the issue for this story.

Committee approves misleading, misnamed bill

The misleading and misnamed “Red Tape Reduction and Local Empowerment Waiver Program” was approved by the House Education Committee on Thursday over the objections of teacher and school employee representatives.

By a vote of 12 to three, the committee gave the nod to a bill that could:

• Water down teachers’ tenure protections
• Allow increased class size
• Eliminate teacher salary schedules in favor of “performance based pay”
• Discourage hiring veteran teachers by adopting “student-based budgeting”
• Give principals control over budgets, including salaries, supplies, resources, etc.

The bill, HB 1368 by Rep. Jane Smith (R-Bossier City) is the centerpiece of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education agenda this year. If eventually passed by both houses of the legislature, it will allow school superintendents to apply for waivers for virtually any law governing Louisiana schools.

LFT President Steve Monaghan spoke against the bill, calling it badly flawed and fraught with unintended consequences.

Far from solving problems of “red tape” in the classroom, Monaghan said, the bill does nothing to empower teachers and school employees.

“Let’s be clear,” Monaghan said. “In this bill, teachers and school employees are inconsequential to the process and are apparently considered less than relevant.”

To read the rest of this article, please click here.

Literacy coaches make a difference

Here's an example of research-based education reforms that work. Education Week's Debra Viadero covers a study showing that literacy coaches in schools can increase reading scores dramatically.

Over thee years, she writes, literacy coaches in 17 states raised reading skills by as much as 32 percent.

"The study," she writes, "which was presented here on May 1 during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, is as notable for its methods as for its results. It’s among the first of what many scholars hope will be a new generation of studies that offer solid clues not only to what works but also when, under what conditions, and to some extent, why."

Literacy coaches work with teachers, developing strategies individualized for their classrooms.

The EdWeek article says that the study is a success story for the value-added approach, which was used to evaluate the increase in students' reading proficiency.