Making it up as they go along

Superintendent of Education John White is all a-twitter about the “Classroom Support Toolbox” touted in this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell, but there is actually less here than meets the eye.

About all that is really new – aside from the public relations campaign designed to put a smiley face on the widely despised COMPASS evaluation system – is a series of videos intended to show best practices to teachers.

There is also the announcement that the State Department will train some 2,000 teachers to be experts in the details of the tool box, and to help their colleagues understand the new common core standards.

All of which just reinforces the impression that this department is making it up as they go along.

But while the department’s details are all squishy, tentative and subject to tweaking, the effects on teachers are concrete. New Web sites and self-help videos do nothing to help teachers who have already been observed and are well n the way to having their evaluations set in stone.

So here’s a suggestion for lawmakers preparing for the session that begins on April 8: Set all of this year’s evaluations aside. Use the experience as an example of what happens when radical changes are imposed without adequate forethought, preparation or transparency.

Go back to the drawing board. Work with real teachers to develop an evaluation system that is accurate and fair, and that truly reflects the value that teachers bring to their classrooms.

Field test it well, and work out the problems before it becomes the rule by which teachers live. That would go a long way toward rebuilding faith and trust in the legislature and in the Department of Education.

Letter: A lump of coal from Jindal

Ponchatoula High School teacher and LFT member Kevin Crovetto penned this letter to the editor of the Hammond Daily Star.

Dear Editor:

In reference to the recent violence at Sandy Hook Elementary School by a mentally deranged assailant, it should be noted that our own Gov. Bobby Jindal has officially turned his back on the mentally ill in Louisiana by providing over 300 pink slips to the workers at Southeast Mental Hospital who cared for both young and old mental patients.

Of course, Bobby says that they can apply for jobs with the private companies who will attempt to provide some of the services, and of course, those jobs will be for lower pay with little or no benefits.

Bobby Jindal has given Louisiana citizens the proverbial lump of coal this year, while his legislators nod and grin because most refuse to upset “Bobby the Grinch.”

This is the same Legislature that passed a new, all-inclusive law to deter bullying in schools; yet, they allow themselves to be bullied by Jindal’s political schemes.

Jindal’s educational “water-boy,” State Superintendent John White, is in charge of the new state initiative called “Louisiana Believes,” which is supposed to promote the educational programs that the legislature was bullied into voting for called Acts 1 and 2.

John White wants us to buy into “Louisiana Believes,” but, like his boss, Bobby, White does not really believe in Louisiana. He is now a finalist for a $300,000-a-year superintendent job for an out-of-state school district in a major city.

White is following his boss in looking for the next best thing for his personal gain, while “giving hell” to the rest of us about what we need to do to be better.

If Jindal and White want better results, it is only because they want better perceptions of their own success to gratify their own financial, political and personal success.

As native Louisianians, we DO believe in Louisiana. That is why we DO NOT believe in the selfish actions of Bobby Jindal and John White. It is now time to prepare a real Christmas present for Mr. Jindal and send it via our legislators.

We should expect our legislators to represent our communities and not other people’s personal political agendas for selfish gain. This gift also comes with a price tag to the deliverer, the Legislature, which is that if this message does not get through to the governor, we as Louisiana citizens believe that our next gift to you will be a political lump of coal.

Many citizens continue to encourage me to speak up and write about the injustices we are facing. Although I am proud to stand up for the people of this state, I do not write to entertain but to implore, inspire, and encourage you to speak up.

Contact your local legislators. Take a stand with me.

— Kevin B. Crovetto, Ponchatoula

Sneak attack revives assault on sick leave

Last week the House Education Committee voted down a bill that would have decimated extended sick leave, and that should have been the end of it.

So nobody saw it coming when the Senate Education Committee quietly switched the intent of one bill to include language even more offensive than the bill defeated on the House side.

At less than two pages long, SB 494 by Sen. Conrad Appel (R-Metairie) was a minor bill intended “to assist local public school systems in developing methods for selecting certain teachers.”

But when it was heard by the committee, SB 494 had miraculously and secretly grown from two to 12 pages “relative to teacher selection and the granting of extended sick leave and sabbatical leave for teachers and other school employees.”

As heard by the committee, the bill included all of the language in the sick leave bill killed by the House Education Committee earlier, with one exception: a “shall” was changed to a “may.”

If Sen. Appel’s bill becomes law, it will stipulate that school systems may grant teachers and school employees 45 says of extended sick leave (instead of the 90 now mandated by law) at 50 percent of their salary (instead of the 65% now mandated by law).

There will no longer be any requirement that extended sick leave be provided at all.

The amended version of the bill was not completely secret. Officials of the Jefferson Parish School Board, including the superintendent, were at the meeting to testify in support. Somehow they had information that was kept secret from the rest of the education community.

The bill will be heard on the Senate floor. If it passes there, it must be approved by the House Education Committee. Members of that panel will be reminded that they turned down an almost identical bill just a week ago.

LFT urges rejection of education budget



LFT President Steve Monaghan

 (Baton Rouge – May 10, 2012) The Legislature should reject a proposed $3.4 billion public education budget because it violates the state constitution and could enrich as-yet unidentified private companies at the expense of public schools across the state, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

If the Minimum Foundation Program formula proposed by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education goes forward, Monaghan said, it will constitute a radical redefinition of the meaning of public education. The plan would pay for a dramatic expansion of charter schools in the state, and for the first time make tuition for private and religious schools an official part of the education budget.
“This is the worst Minimum Foundation Program ever submitted,” Monaghan told the Senate Education Committee.

In spite of Monaghan’s objection, the committee voted four-to-one to report SCR 99 by Sen. Conrad Appel (R-Metairie) favorably to the full Senate.

To read the rest of the story, please click here.

Tell lawmakers to leave our retirement systems alone!

Soon - perhaps next Tuesday, May 1 - the House and Senate will both consider retirement bills that would weaken the retirement systems, make them less effective advocates for retirees, and reduce benefits for future, and even some current, public employees.

No matter what you hear from legislators, many of these bills will also have an effect on K-12 teachers - click here to find out why K-12 teachers should be as concerned as other public servants about these plans.

Because bills are being heard in both the House and Senate, it is important that you send two messages, one to each legislative body.

Please click here to send a message to your State Representative about HB 1198 and HB 61.

Please click here to send your State Senator a message about SB 33, SB 52, SB 47 and SB 749.

Why teachers should worry about retirement bills this year

Some legislators are upset that teachers and school employees are calling them about retirement issues. They point out that current K-12 educators are not included in the governor's attacks on state retirement systems this year. They say that teachers and school employees have nothing to worry about this year.

On a very simple and misleading level, they are correct. Currently employed K-12 teachers and school employees were carefully edited out of some retirement bills, although higher education faculty members of the Teachers Retirement System are definitely at risk.

Simply saying that K-12 educators aren't affected this year, however, does not mean they have nothing to worry about. If the so-called "reforms" pass this year, it is almost certain that teachers and school employees will be added to the list in upcoming legislative sessions.

But that's not the only reason for teachers and school employees to oppose attacks on the retirement systems of other workers.

First of all, we owe it to other employees to support their interests, especially if we ever hope to have their support when we are under the gun. The more we stick together, the better our chances of having decent and sustainable retirement plans for all of us.

And if you are looking for a more technical and layered reason for concern, we have that for you as well.

If the proposed retirement system changes go through, teachers and school employees will be indirectly but definitely affected. Here's how LFT Legislative Director Mary-Patricia Wray explains it:

The investment strategy of the board will change, and the decisions made on behalf of all plan participants, new or old, will be influenced by the changes made to final average compensation, retirement eligibility, DROP eligibility, employer and employee contribution rates and the proposed institution of a cash balance plan.

The prospective language in the bills is a facade that fails to fully disguise the retroactive nature of these bills. The governor's package, if adopted in whole or part, will increase the unique investment interests of plan participants since different members will be eligible to retire at different ages, under different styles of pensions, and with vastly different income levels.

The board managing of each retirement system will have a fiduciary duty to all members, making the wisest investment decisions for each fund. Meanwhile they will have to change past investment strategies to accommodate new hires who will have completely different levels of tolerance for risk-taking. Ultimately it will impact the funded ratio of the system, and thereby every single member of the system, whether a career employee or a new hire.

Coalition fights to save state pensions

Rep. James Armes (D-Leesville) says Gov. Jindal's retirement system changes threaten the state's middle class.

At a capitol press conference Monday, a coalition of firefighters, teachers, law enforcement personnel, AARP retirees, local leaders, state budget experts, and others exposed and rejected Governor Jindal’s pension-slashing scheme on middle class Louisiana workers.

Governor Jindal is trying to force through the legislature one of the most extreme overhauls of a state-run pension system anywhere in the nation, without the benefit of a transparent and open debate.

Shrouded in secrecy, Jindal’s pension slashing scheme, includes a so-called “cash balance plan” that turns pensions over to Wall Street. According to an actuarial note prepared by the Actuarial Services Department of the Office of the Legislative Auditor, the proposed cash balance plan would likely cost more than the current defined benefit plan. The report goes on to note, “Because there is no Social Security coverage [for state workers], such a member may very well become a ward of the state because he or she has no other available resources.”

Rep. James K. Armes (District 30) said: “The public deserves openness and transparency from their government especially when it comes to their retirement security. Unfortunately, Governor Jindal insists on secrecy. Even worse, his plan punishes Louisiana’s middle class workers by handing over their pensions to greedy Wall Street insiders who crashed our economy in the first place.”

Kerri Everitt, Advocacy Director for AARP said: “The Governor’s ‘cash balance plan,’ is particularly bad for retirees because state employees do not get Social Security. The plan will cost the state money and leave retirees in poverty. Instead of punishing working people and our seniors we should be making big corporations and Wall Street pay their fair share.”

Jan Moller, Director for Louisiana Budget Project said: “The cash balance plan is a lose-lose for Louisiana. It’s bad for taxpayers and bad for state employees. It’s especially risky for state employees, who do not receive Social Security and whose families would be vulnerable if they die or become disabled before they retire.”

Stacy Birdwell, Professional Fire fighters Association of Louisiana: “Firefighters don’t become firefighters to get rich. But we at least expect there to be a decent and guaranteed retirement at the end of a lifetime of hard work. We stand with our fellow state workers and demand politicians stop trying to turn our retirement security over to Wall Street.

Brenda G Matthews, qualified teacher aide, East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers: “It’s shameful when politicians show such disrespect to the people who work every day to make the next generation of this state better and smarter. This plan is immoral and does not represent Louisiana values it represents Wall Street values. We must stop trying to sell the state and its people off to Wall Street and start making Wall Street and the richest one percent pay their fair share.

According to a new study from the Louisiana State Employees' Retirement System, based on the decisions they make, a worker who has already worked 10 years and plans to retire at age 55 with 28 years of service would have their pension slashed by $18,500 per year. Alternatively, someone currently with 20 years under their belt and plans to retire at age 55 with 25 years of service would see their pension chopped by $6000 per year.

Retirement bills taking center stage

Now that major elements of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s education package have been steamrolled through the legislature, attention is turning to the bills filed on his behalf that change state retirement systems.

Teacher and school employee system merger: Only one of the bills directly affects K-12 teachers and school employees – HB 60 by Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell), which would merge the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana and the Louisiana School Employees Retirement System. That bill was changed so drastically on the House floor (it ballooned from 10 pages to 86 pages) that it was assigned a new number, HB 1198 by Rep. Pearson.

LFT opposes the bill because both systems work well, provide better retirement security than the private market and have earned the confidence of their members. It will be heard on the House floor on April 25.

The merger would abolish LSERS and transfer all its property, rights, obligations and employees into the Teachers’ system. In the process, 30 employees would lose their jobs within a year. That greatly increases the work load on remaining staff, and could cause a reduction in services for the members of the merged systems.

Why other retirement bills should concern educators

Other retirement bills in the governor’s package pose a threat to K-12 educators, even though they are not directly mentioned. The net effect of the Jindal plan is to dismantle the state‘s defined benefit retirement system. The ultimate objective is to replace pensions with market-based plans, putting employee retirement into 401(k)-type investment plans that do not guarantee an income.

If the governor succeeds in dismantling state employee pension systems, there is little doubt that teacher and school employee pensions will be next.

To read about specific retirement bills, please click here.

A message from LFT President Steve Monaghan: Elections have consequences

“Elections have consequences.”

Type that sentence into your search engine, and you’re likely to get more than 32 million hits.

What has happened to public education in the past few weeks has taught me (and I am quite sure many others) new respect for the “consequences” statement. Never have we seen an election that has had such dire consequences.

Attacks on the professionals who dedicate their lives to our children have never been so vicious. The destruction of our public schools has never been so imminent.

In January, Gov. Jindal launched his “bold education reform” in a speech to the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. In it, he compared teachers to drug dealers and batterers.

This month, the legislature passed one law that will dismantle our schools and divert billions of public dollars to private, religious and corporate schools, and another law that bases virtually all personnel decisions on the controversial new ‘Value Added Model” of teacher evaluation. The proverbial train is on the tracks.

Education was first in the crosshairs, but we’re not the only target. Governor Jindal and his allies are ruthlessly pursuing the most radical deconstruction of public services ever seen in Louisiana. State employees, public safety and health care will be next on the chopping block.

To read more, please click here.

Don't let them silence our voices!

Click here to send a message to members of the House and Govenmental Affairs Committee.

In an effort to silence the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and other public sector unions, a bill has been introduced to strike at the unions’ source of funding.

The bill is clearly aimed at stopping us from taking a civil, principled stand against current anti-public education and anti-public services legislation.

HB 1023 by Rep. Alan Seabaugh (R-Shreveport) would prohibit “any entity which engages in political activity from receiving public payroll withholdings or deductions.”

Under current law, members of unions like ours can opt to pay their dues through payroll deduction. This is neither a special privilege nor a burden on taxpayers. It is a service that is available to credit unions, insurance companies and other recognized vendors, as well as unions.

Because most members of LFT and other public sector unions pay their dues through payroll deduction, Rep. Seabaugh’s bill is an obvious threat to the very existence of advocacy organizations.

This bill is an effort to silence the voice of opposition. It is aimed at the LFT and other public sector unions that oppose attacks on professional educators, the wholesale privatization of public services, and the destruction of the public retirement systems.

Organizations that support these schemes are financed by deep-pocketed corporations and individuals. Their funding would not be affected by Rep. Seabaugh’s bill.

Unions like the LFT represent the interests of workers who dedicate their professional lives to the children of the state. In a civil, professional manner, we bring their concerns to the legislature.

Freedom of speech and freedom of association are crucial to a representative form of government. Prohibiting the payroll deduction of union dues would stifle those freedoms and ultimately weaken our democracy.

HB 1023 has been assigned to the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs. Please take action now, and ask members to vote NO when the bill comes before them.

Click here to send a message to members of the House and Govenmental Affairs Committee.

Tell your senator to reject Jindal's radical scheme!

Click here to send your senator a message!

Tell your senator to reject Jindal's radical scheme!

The House of Representatives approved Gov. Jindal's extreme agenda...
Now it's up to the Senate!

In spite of thousands of e-mails, phone calls, and personal contacts, the House of Representatives approved two of Gov. Jindal's radical plans to privatize public education and de-professionalize teaching.

These two bills, HB 974 and HB 976, are expected to be approved by the Jindal-controlled Senate Education Committee and sent to the full Senate for a vote as soon as the first week of April.

Our next real chance to have an impact on these bills is on the Senate floor. Please send a message to your senators, asking them to vote against these assaults on public education.

Click here to send your senator a message!

Three ways to stop the Jindal agenda

Gov. Jindal’s anti-public education, anti-teacher agenda: Tell your Senator and Representative to vote NO on these bills: HB 974 and SB603, and HB976 and SB 597

By now you know how educators were disrespected at the State Capitol on March 14 and 15. Thousands were turned away at the door while the House and Senate Education Committees marched almost lockstep to approve the Jindal agenda. The few lawmakers who stood with us were railroaded by the most extreme display of executive overreach since Huey Long.

It’s important for the rest of the Legislature to hear from the voters before these bills become law. They have the potential to destroy public education and our profession. Here are 3 things you can do right now to help derail Gov. Jindal’s train before public education and the teaching profession are damaged beyond repair.

1. Click here and send an e-mail message to your Senator and Representative, telling them about your opposition to the bills.

2. Call your Senator and Representative.

Your Senator’s contact information is here, and your Representatives information is here. If you don’t know who they are, click here to find out.

Using the information listed below, explain to them that you are a voter in their district and you oppose these bills.

3. Send this link to everyone in your address book – legislators need to hear from as many people as possible!

Here’s what is at stake with these bills:

HB 974/SB 603: Attacks on the teaching profession

If these bills pass, virtually all personnel decisions will be based on the controversial new ‘Value Added Model” of teacher evaluation.

• There will never be another across-the-board pay raise, and no more salary schedule for new teachers. Local superintendents will decide how much each teacher and school employee will earn, largely based on evaluations.


• Any teacher who receives an ”ineffective” rating even once will be ineligible for pay raises, will lose tenure rights and will be considered an “at will” employee who can be fired immediately.


• Teachers will have to be rated “highly effective” for five straight years to earn tenure. The architect of Gov. Jindal’s Value Added evaluation program says that is nearly impossible to do.


• In dismissal proceedings, teachers have no right to a list of specific charges, may not appeal to the school board, and have only 60 days to lodge an appeal, instead of the current one-year limitation. Language requiring teachers to be found guilty is removed.

HB 976/SB 597: The destruction of public education

These bills will use the funding process to virtually abolish public education. Your tax dollars will be spent on private and religious schools, virtual schools, home schools and charter schools created by corporations, businesses and industry providers.

• These bills violate the State Constitution, which says that Minimum Foundation Program funds can only be used for “public elementary and secondary schools.”


• Tax money approved by voters for local salaries, construction and maintenance will go to these schools, even if the schools are in a different city or parish.


• The only requirement to teach in these schools will be a Bachelor’s degree – no certification will be necessary.


• The only fiscal oversight for these new charter schools is an annual report to the unelected charter authorizer, not to BESE or the local school board.


• Online teachers from anywhere in the world will automatically be certified as Louisiana teachers. These online teachers will NOT be subject to Louisiana teacher evaluations or accountability.

Tell lawmakers to slow down the Jindal train!

The House and Senate Education Committees must allow full and open debate of the Jindal agenda!

Click here to send a message to committee members!

Click here to download a flier explaining the issues at stake.

Beginning on Wednesday, March 14, lawmakers will begin deliberations on the most radical changes to the education profession ever considered in Louisiana.

Whether or not you agree with Gov. Bobby Jindal’s legislative agenda, it is important to understand that his plan needs to be considered openly, transparently and with adequate public comment.

The governor’s supporters say they want to pass major bills very early in the session, as quickly as possible, and without amendments. The House Education Committee has already scheduled a hearing on the governor’s package, HB 974, HB 976 and HB 933 for Wednesday morning at 8:30 A.M.

There are indications that the Senate Education Committee may deliberate its versions of the governor’s package on Thursday.

To read more, please click here.

A bad day for good government

With little debate, BESE adopts MFP that funds vouchers

February 27, 2012 was not a good day for good government.

In a more than obvious display of deference to Governor Bobby Jindal, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Monday approved a public school funding formula that would guarantee spending taxpayer money – including local education funds - for private and religious school tuition vouchers.

With almost no public input and very little opportunity to inspect the document, BESE voted to send the $3.41 billion Minimum Foundation Program formula to the legislature for adoption. The legislature must either approve or reject the formula, but may not amend it.

If the MFP is approved by lawmakers, and if the governor’s as-yet unveiled voucher law is adopted, students receiving vouchers would, for the first time, be included in the student count of the local school board and would be eligible for both the state and local shares of education funds.

This unprecedented action raises serious constitutional questions, and is currently being reviewed by legal counsel.

To read more, please click here.

Tell lawmakers: Don't commit to an education agenda that hasn't even been written yet!

Please click here to send a message!

The legislative session won't begin for another month, but Gov. Bobby Jindal is already pressuring lawmakers to unquestioningly support his agenda for public education.

The governor is asking for commitments to his plan even though legislators have not seen the bills he intends to introduce.

Judging from his speeches, the governor’s education plan will

• Destroy the teacher salary schedule


• Endanger tenure and due process rights


• Radically expand vouchers for private and religious schools


• Impose even more state control of local school districts

Please send a message to your senator and representative. Our message simply asks lawmakers not to commit to the governor’s agenda until each of his plans has a chance to be debated openly, transparently and on its merits.

After all, that’s the reason we have a legislative session. If all of the real decisions are made under pressure and behind closed doors, our leaders have failed us.

Please click here to send a message!

Advocate, LFT agree on "Haynesville Bust"

In a recent editorial, The Advocate in Baton Rouge pointed out that the state is losing hundreds of millions of dollars because a loophole in our tax law gives petroleum producers a tax break on the boom in natural gas drilling.

The newspaper called it"the great Haynesville bust" because most of the action is in North Louisiana's Haynesville play, where landowners have become millionaires and oil companies are reaping vast profits.

Left our of the bonanza is the State of Louisiana: "In the 1990s," said the editorial, "when horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing were new methods, the state passed at the behest of the powerful oil industry a 100 percent tax exemption for the cost of drilling wells."

In this letter to the editor, LFT President Steve Monaghan wrote of the practical impact of the loophole. "While education, health care, the transportation infrastructure and other vital public services starve," Monaghan wrote, "vast fortunes are being made by the energy corporations."

It was not unexpected, said Monaghan:

Nearly two years ago, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the
Louisiana Budget Project were partners in creating the Better Choices for a
Better Louisiana coalition. The coalition’s main goal was a balanced approach to
our budget crisis and to ensure that Louisiana had the resources required to
provide the services our people need and deserve.
Early on, Better Choices was critical of the state tax loophole granted for horizontal drilling. As new discoveries in the Tuscaloosa Trend come into play, Louisiana stands to lose even more millions.

The LFT President ended his letter by urging Gov. Jindal and the legislature "to examine and reconsider the tax breaks for horizontal drilling and each of the more than 400 tax breaks on the books."

Is Jindal's BESE dominance enough?

How much did Gov. Bobby Jindal and his allies spend to stack the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education with members simpatico with his idea of eduction reform? We won't know for sure until the next round of election finance reports is released, but it will be a big number, well into the millions.

What they will get for their investment is the subject of this column by Associated Press reporter Melinda Deslatte.

The gist of it is this: Despite the governor's near-total control of BESE, a "sweeping overhaul" of public education is not necessarily a "done deal."

The governor's faction will have their way in matters of policy, including his choice for superintendent of education, Deslatte concedes: "Jindal's got three appointees to the board, and most of the eight elected members espouse his support of vouchers, charter school expansion, school takeovers and teacher evaluations tied at least partly to student test scores."

But while policy is under the jurisdiction of BESE, law is another matter, and that is in the purview of the legislature.

"The new and re-elected BESE members can't just sweep in at the start of the January term and make all those changes on which they campaigned," writes Deslatte. "They can elect a superintendent who agrees with them. Then, they'll have to lobby lawmakers and keep their fingers crossed."

"I expect there to be a robust debate, but in the end, I expect in the House and in the Senate to get these proposals through," Deslatte quotes the governor as saying. Jindal has not revealed just what those proposals will be.

Deslatte notes that most members of the legislature were not elected on platforms of education reform that mirror Jindal's. They will be hearing from others who want to improve education, but may not believe the governor's path is the right one.

Deslatte concludes that the governor will "still have to get majority support in both chambers and overcome the opposition of the unions, school board leaders and other traditional public school supporters to win final passage of his bills."

Columnist gets it right on tenure

Hammond Daily Star columnist Lil Morando gets it exactly right in this journal entry. It should be read by every member of the Louisiana Legislature, because they will be barraged with bills aimed at abolishing teacher tenure next spring.

It should also be required reading for voters in Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 6, where incumbent member Chas Roemer has made an obsession of his crusade to get rid of tenure.

With politicians like Roemer banging the drum about tenure, Morando makes an important point: "The reason tenure exists is to keep politics out of the system, to make sure that when teachers are fired it is because they are incompetent. At a time when we should be working to keep politics out of our school system, 'getting rid of tenure' would do just the opposite."

She revisits what educators already know, that tenure is not lifetime job security, nor does it prevent administrators from firing poorly performing teachers. Tenure simply guarantees that there will be a fair, open process to ensure that a teacher's rights are respected.

Morando's conclusion is one that all of us should take to heart: "Yes, Louisiana education needs reforms, but the goal of all reforms must be to improve education for all our children. Getting rid of tenure and laying off teachers will not accomplish that goal."

One of the least educated, unhealthiest, and poorest states in the nation

The legislature did its work and went home. Louisiana has a budget - that was the main goal of this year's fiscal legislative session - but it ain't pretty.

The political posturing and crowing aside, Louisiana's $25 billion state budget leaves us "as one of the unhealthiest, least educated, and poorest states in the nation," according to this new report from the Louisiana Budget Project.

Chief among the victims of this year's budget are those least able to fend for themselves. The LA Budget Project reports that "funding for families and children that suffer from incapacitating poverty, abuse, and homelessness " was cut by some $53 million for the coming fiscal year. That means Governor Jindal has sliced the Department of Children and Family Services by 40 percent since coming into office.

Higher education has borne the brunt of Louisiana's budget problems for the pat few years, having been cut by $491 million during Jindal's term. This year, in order to claim that funding for higher education has been protected, lawmakers and the governor raised tuition and fees for students. This, they claim, does not amount to a tax increase.

Then there's K-12 education. The governor and his allies like to claim that they did not cut funding for public schools, but that is a prevarication at best.

Public education's Minimum Foundation Program base per-pupil amount has been frozen for three years, while costs have risen dramatically. That amounts to a cut all by itself.

But cuts outside the MFP have strained some local school board budgets close to the breaking point. The governor cut $5.5 million for nationally certified teacher stipends, and $7.2 million more for the transportation of private and religious school students. The governor also cut nearly $70 million in state funding for classroom technology, student remediation, and reading and math initiatives - programs that local school systems will either have to eliminate or fund themselves.

LBP's report further slams state leaders for reductions in health care and youth services.

But the worst news in the report is that lawmakers and Jindal once again cobbled together a budget that depends on one-time money and millions "swept" from existing funds. So without facing the real issue and identifying revenues that can fill the recurring budget gap, we will all be in the same leaky boat when the legislature convenes again next spring.

Advocate calls flip-flop "a new low in subservience."

This editorial in The Advocate calls out the 11 lawmakers who would rather switch than fight, correctly saying that they "utterly caved to pressure."

Speaker of the House Jim Tucker deserves kudos for standing up to the governor. His passionate speech in favor of overriding the veto was what John F. Kennedy called a profile in courage - especially since Tucker owes his position to Gov. Jindal.

As for the obsequious eleven, The Advocate gets it right:

Members who switched set a new low in subservience. They abased themselves
before Jindal despite the manifest unreasonableness of his position on the merits of the issue. They showed themselves to be more concerned with the governor’s power than with the state’s interest.