Education coalition speaks truth to power

LFT President Steve Monaghan addresses the news media on Monday. Also shown are St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees President Elsie Burkhalter and St. John the Baptist School Board Member Russ Wise.

Members of a public education coalition took issue with the Jindal administration's education policies at a press conference on Monday.

Following the governor's opening address to the Louisiana Legislature, members of the the Coalition for Public Education said that Jindal and State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek are taking public education in the wrong direction, basing decisions on political ideology instead of good educational practices.

LFT President Steve Monaghan was one of the speakers at the press conference, reported in this article by Gannett's Mike Hasten.

"After listening to the governor (in his address opening the legislative session) that the future is so bright, I had to put on my shades," Monaghan said. "There's a different Louisiana out there. Class sizes are going up and salaries have been frozen.

"We're not going to cut our way to prosperity," he said. "Less has never been more. To Mr. Jindal, we have $7.1 billion in taxes not being collected now" because of tax exemptions granted to business. "They would provide for the public good. It's time to take the shades off and look at things as they are."

Members of the coalition include the LFT, the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, the Louisiana Association of Educators, the Louisiana School Boards Association, the Louisiana Association of School Executives, the Louisiana Association of Principals, the Louisiana Association of Chief Technology Officers, the Louisiana Retired Teachers Association, the National Board Certified Teachers of Louisiana, the Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators, the Louisiana Association of Child Welfare and Attendance Personnel and the National School Board Association.