Truth in advertising: Chas Roemer edition

To see Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Chas Roemer's TV re-election ad, you'd think he is shocked - shocked, I tell you - by Louisiana's "bloated" education bureaucracy.

Standing with the wife and kids, he says of Louisiana's $9 billion education budget, "we should put that money into the classroom not into the pockets of bureaucrats.”

And yet, as part of the Jindal administration's majority on the BESE board, Roemer voted to make former State Superintendent Paul Pastorek the highest paid education superintendent in the nation at over $300,000 per year, and Roemer voted to pay Recovery School District Superintendent John White some $250,000 per year.

The state department of education, which Roemer's board oversees, now has 45 staff members who make more than $100,0000 per year.

Bloated bureaucracy? Take a peek in the mirror.

U.S. education secretary interfering in LA superintendent selection

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has apparently lent his weight to the cause of John White for State Superintendent of Education.

As Associated Press reporter Melinda Deslatte writes here, Duncan has approached at least two members of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on White's behalf.

As reported previously in EdLog, White, a 35-year old Teach for America product with limited educational experience, was selected to run the State Recovery School District, even though he has never been a school district superintendent.

He is Governor Bobby Jindal's choice to replace Paul Pastorek as state superintendent of education, but apparently does not have enough support on BESE to be confirmed. White would need the votes of eight of the 11 board members, but reportedly has solid opposition from four of them.

The two BESE members who report being contacted by Duncan are Linda Johnson from Plaquemine and Louella Givens from New Orleans; both of them have said they oppose White's appointment.

TP wet kisses Pastorek; researcher debunks claims

As Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek rides off into the sunset, opinionistas like the Times-Picayune's editorial writers are trying to beatify him on a faster track than Pope John Paul II.

Friday's editorial gushed that Pastorek's "legacy will reverberate for years to come."

That may be so, but in ways unintended by the Picayune's uptown Brahmans.

Pastorek was not only divisive and unwilling to compromise, which the Picayune counts as good things, but he presided over a department that acquiesced in an ongoing plot to privatize, charterize and voucherize public education in Louisiana to a unprecedented extent.

Again, there are some who count those as good things. Good for the big buck administrators making six-figure salaries, and good for the consultants who now suckle at the public breast, and good for the right-wing politicians planning political futures built on the wreckage of public education in our state.

For the children, parents, teachers and school employees who want a decent public education system, not so much.

To find out why, check out researcher Charles Hatfield's response to the Picayune editorial here.

Hatfield and the organization he represents, Research on Reforms, has consistently debunked claims by Pastorek and the Jindal administration touting the alleged success of the State Recovery School District in New Orleans.

Peruse the Research on Reforms Web site, and you'll find convincing evidence that the Jindal/Pastorek agenda was "to deceive the public in order to promote the market‐driven goals of the new public education entrepreneurs and to increase the number of failing schools turned over to privately run 'public schools' in Louisiana. This is really what the state is doing."

As Hatfield concludes, "it is unfortunate that The Times‐Picayune continues to be extremely myopic and biased with respect to its one‐sided reporting on the success of the current reform initiatives of the former state superintendent, Paul Pastorek. Instead, it continues its simplistic reporting of this extremely complex issue and continues to pander to the misinformation and propaganda generated by the proponents of this market driven approach to public education, even though no quantitative or qualitative evaluations exist after five years to justify the continued existence of the RSD."

Whither White?

Everybody now knows that newly minted Recovery School District head John White is Gov. Bobby Jindal's pick to replace Paul Pastorek as the state superintendent of education. But who is he, and does he have a realistic chance of becoming superintendent?

White is just 35 years old, and fresh from his last job as deputy chancellor for the New York City school system. His main duty there, according to blogger Mike Deshotels, was "to close down low performing schools and to convert as many schools as possible into charter schools. He was also working on a system to evaluate teachers using student test scores."

Prior to his New York experience, White taught for two years as a Teach for America recruit, and then went to work as the Teach for America executive director in Chicago, according to this New York Times article. Aside from his abbreviated teaching stint, White's academic credentials include certification from the Broad Superintendents Academy.

The Academy's Web site claims that it takes "executives who have experience successfully leading large organizations and a passion for public service" and, after 10 months of training on weekends, "places them in urban school districts to dramatically improve the quality of education for America’s students."

There is no indication that White ever led a large corporation. However, he does have a qualification that seems very important to the Jindal administration - he, along with the new executive director of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the governor's education advisor, emerged from Teach for America.

That distinction does not impress a new coalition of education organizations, which includes the LFT.

As Monroe News-Star reporter Barbara Leader writes here, the coalition wants Jindal and BESE to follow state law, which says that when the state superintendent leaves, he is to be replaced by the deputy superintendent for the remainder of the term, unless it is longer than a year.

There is a deputy superintendent already in place, and there is therefore no need to hurry up and find an interim to fill the job until next January.

And if that's not barrier enough to the governor's wishes, it appears that enough BESE members have problems with White's credentials to block his appointment. This article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell reveals that four of the 11 BESE members would vote against confirming White, and since a two-thirds majority is required, it looks like his outlook is dim.

Not that any of that makes much difference if the governor really has his heart set on White as the new superintendent. Our whole form of government is set up to make Louisiana's governor the most powerful in the nation. There are many levers of power that Jindal can tweak to get his way.

No need to rush Pastorek's replacement

Governor Bobby Jindal and the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education should be in no hurry to appoint an interim state superintendent of education, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

Monaghan spoke in the wake of Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek’s surprise announcement on Wednesday that he will leave the department of education to accept a post with an aerospace company in Washington, D.C.

The governor has announced that he favors replacing Pastorek with 35-year old John White, who just three days ago was named to lead the state Recovery School District.

“Careful deliberation and a logical, transparent process vetting process will help to build confidence in the successful candidate. There is no need for a rush to judgment,” Monaghan said. “There are competent people in the state department of education who are capable of managing affairs until such a process has been completed.

Read the rest of this article: please click here.

Pastorek to resign as superintendent

Advocate reporter Will Sentell has the story here.

The big question now is...who will replace Pastorek?

The prickly Pastorek has been a good foil for Governor Bobby Jindal's radical education agenda. Pastorek has fostered the demolition of public education in favor of charters and other quasi-private schemes. His in-your-face persona became the focal point for opposition to an agenda that is, at bottom, the governor's.

New RSD chief to get $281K package

The new, 35-year old chief of the State Recovery School District will get a $281,000 pay package, according to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, who brokered the deal with former New York City school system deputy superintendent John White, said the high salary is justified because of the "incredible amount of personal sacrifice" required by the job.

Although White will be making less than current RSD chief Paul Vallas, who makes about $377,000 per year, his salary will be higher than the state's new higher education commissioner.

Right on schedule, apologists for the state's big business lobby justified the pay package, trotting out the old bromide about having to pay high salaries to get highly qualified people. That formula doesn't seem to apply to classroom teachers, where the strategy has been to hire new college graduates, who will work for approximately two years at the low end of the salary schedule.

In any event, the old bromide doesn't seem to have worked in the Recovery School District. Despite Vallas' princely salary, student performance has not improved in schools seized by the state, according to this study by Dr. Charles Hatfield, co-founder of Research on Reforms.

As Dr. Hatfield writes in the study's summary, "Whether assessing the 2010-11 status of the RSD schools using the current achievement performance labels or applying the new letter grade system that will be implemented this fall, it is clear that the SPS achievement status for the vast majority of the RSD schools is at best pathetic."

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.

Public education coalition stings Pastorek and Jindal

The new education coalition mentioned in EdLog recently has come out swinging, holding its maiden press conference on the steps of the Claiborne Building, home of the Louisiana Department of Education.

As WVLA-TV reporter Kelsey Scram tells it in this article, "A group of school leaders say they've had enough with cuts to education. Now, they're banding together and speaking out."

Representing the Louisiana Federation of Teachers at the press conference was East Baton Rouge Federation President Carnell Washington, who told reporters, "We believe that this governor and this administration have made poor choices...We are coming together to try and stop the train from the direction in which it is going."

Education researcher Charles Hatfield revealed one of the dirty secrets of the Jindal administration's attack on public education, which has included the state takeover of some schools, flat-lining funding for education's Minimum Foundation Program and shifting millions of dollars in state costs onto financially strapped local school boards.

Despite resources poured into schools seized by the state, Hatfield said, "With the few exceptions, which you can count on one hand, most of the schools are really not performing that well. In fact, many of them are atrocious."

Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek responded quickly with a rant in which he characterized the coalition as the "grumbling of those who are unwilling to be inspired" by his failed policies.

Pastorek's screed was trumped by this guest column in the Louisiana Voice blog, penned by Don Whittinghill of the Louisiana School Board's Association.

Whittinghill wrote, in part, "The Superintendent apparently believes that only he, and a small coterie of highly-paid associates, is motivated to 'continue doing the right thing for kids.' His vision of the right thing includes bringing in a host of private companies to manage schools and to provide a varied menu of professional services that have one thing in common: They pull money out of the classroom."

"Red Tape" sponsor won't support changes

The chief sponsor of the so-called Red Tape Reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Act won't support changes that may encourage school boards to actually apply for the waivers of law and policy, according to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

The act, which was Gov. Bobby Jindal's signature education legislation in the 2010 legislative session, has been touted by Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek as a way for school systems to circumvent "burdensome rules and laws" that "stifle student gain."

Those burdensome rules include teacher tenure, class size, instructional time and curriculum.

Thus far, not a single school board has requested a waiver as permitted by the act. One reason may be a requirement, added at the last minute by legislators as a way to blunt criticism of the act, that teachers in affected schools be allowed to vote on whether the board should seek a waiver.

Some friends of the Jindal administration have suggested an amendment to the act removing the requirement that teachers vote on proposed waivers. In the Advocate article, Rep. Smith says she is not interested in amending the law, however.

A former school superintendent in Bossier Parish herself, Rep. Smith told the Advocate, “If I am a superintendent and believe strongly in something and can’t get the support of the teachers, I guess I am going to have to examine what I am asking."

Another problem for the Red Tape act is its dubious constitutionality. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers has challenged the act in 19th Judicial District Court on the grounds that lawmakers cannot give the state education board the authority to waive laws passed by the legislature.

Panel dissects Superman

LFT President Steve Monaghan, left, makes a point during a panel discussion of the documentary Waiting for Superman. Monaghan described the film as a dishonest, partisan attack on public education and the dedicated teachers who work in our schools. With Monaghan on the panel are Lafourche Parish Superintendent of Schools Jo Ann Matthews, moderator Barry Erwin, State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek and Albemarle Corp. Assistant Treasurer Lorin Crenshaw.

To read a flier handed out by members of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers at the screening, please click here.

Advocate reporter covered the screening of the film for this story.

Still no "Red Tape" takers

As Will Sentell from The Advocate points out here, no school boards have yet taken Gov. Jindal and Supt. Pastorek up on the Red Tape Act's offer to waive laws and policies.

Even though Pastorek has touted the act as a way to relieve budget stress, there have been no takers.

There are a couple of possible reasons for this hesitancy. As the article notes, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers has filed a suit challenging the act's constitutionality. Perhaps school boards are leery of gearing up for a program that may get snuffed by the courts.

But here's another one: maybe the school boards just don't trust Pastorek and Jindal. As DeSoto Superintendent of Schools Walter Lee observes, a careful reading of the law reveals that it might make it easier for the state to seize control of local schools.

That hasn't worked too well for local systems.

RSD failing to improve Baton Rouge schools

Yet more evidence is emerging that state bureaucrats can't do any better - and in some cases are worse - than locally elected public school boards at improving our schools.

This story by Advocate reporter Will Sentell includes whines from Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek about how long it takes to effect changes in a school.

Also whining is a spokesperson for Advance Baton Rouge, an organization that runs two schools on behalf of the state, schools in which scores have significantly declined since the takeover.

Those schools, the flack says, ought to improve because of a $13.2 million grant coming their way to improve teacher quality.

Remember when they used to say you can't solve a problem by throwing money at it?

Not letting a good tragedy go to waste

Despite the fact that there's no evidence charter schools really do a better job of educating children, and despite the fact that Recovery District schools in New Orleans are much more expensive without providing a better educational product, State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek allows the right-wing Reason Institute to regurgitate the "silver lining" calumny about Hurricane Katrina and public education in the Crescent City.

Pastorek dares to differ with Jindal on school cuts

This is big news. Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, who has marched lockstep with Gov. Bobby Jindal thus far, now dares to differ with his patron on the threat that Jindal's budget cuts pose to public education.

While the governor's mantra has been along the we-can-do-more-with-less line, Pastorek has gone public with the damage the governor's budget is doing to our kids.

After providing the Senate Finance Committee a list of the state's educational improvements, Pastorek ventured into territory the governor may consider treasonous, as reported by Will Sentell for this article in The Advocate.

"I’m telling you I am very concerned about where we are,” Pastorek told the committee. “When I tell you there aren’t many programs left in the Department of Education I mean it.”

Pastorek's report to the Senate Finance Committee laid bare the governor's disingenuous claims that K-12 education has not been cut over the past three years. Pastorek's department has been cut by $6.3 million, and has lost some 65 employees.

Future cuts, Pastorek told senators, would make it difficult, if not impossible, to implement the changes that the legislature has mandated.

Among funding cuts that have a direct, negative impact on the learning of children are these:

• Teacher stipends for national certification went from $5.5 million to zero.
• The budget for classroom technology went from $30 million to zero.
• Public school awards went from $4.6 million to zero.
• The K-3 reading and math initiative went from $6.7 million to zero.
• The student remediation budget went from $18.9 million to zero.

“That is a very serious problem,” Pastorek told the committee. “That is a lot of kids counting on adults to get them to grade level.”

LFT President tells BESE: We need better choices for funding our schools

As the state’s top school board begins grappling with the prospect of even more cuts to public education, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan urged board members “to see that the crisis we are in is real” and to embrace choices that strengthen communities and schools.

“We should be partners in setting priorities, and making sure that when this economic crisis ends Louisiana is positioned to enjoy prosperity,” Monaghan told the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

The board must present its plan for funding public education to the legislature next March.

"We will not be in that position if we fail to invest in education now and identify and fund other vital public services," Monaghan noted.

For the past two years, basic funding for public education has been frozen. At the same time, lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal have shifted costs previously borne by the state to local school boards.

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek admitted that the frozen MFP has been inadequate to pay for public education in the state, saying that schools could not have stayed afloat without the $377 million in federal stimulus funds granted to the state over the past 18 months.

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

People to Pastorek: Give our schools back!

Next month, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will vote on what to do about New Orleans schools that were taken over by the state after Hurricane Katrina and put under control of the Recovery School District.

While State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek does a shuck-and-jive over his department's plans, the people of New Orleans are making their wishes clear.

Last night, there was a public hearing at McDonogh 35 school in New Orleans to gauge community sentiment on the issue. As TV8 weekend anchor Shelley Brown reports here, the crowd at McDonogh wants the schools handed back to the control of the Orleans Parish School Board.

Louisiana frozen out of Race to the Top funds

Doing a passable impression of the Soup Nazi on the old Seinfeld show, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today said "No money for you" to Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek.

For the second time, our state was frozen out of the education fund known as Race to the Top. In the first round, only Tennessee and Delaware won money; this time, nine states and the District of Columbia will get a share of $3.4 billion from the competition.

Asked for a comment, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said the loss changes nothing about the Federation's commitment to student achievement.

“The Louisiana Federation of Teachers remains committed to including educator voice and involvement in any initiatives that affect our profession,” said Monaghan. “Despite this development, we will continue to partner with the state and local school districts in achieving our goal of a quality education for all children."

It did not go unnoticed that Louisiana lost its bid for funding even though Pastorek made the competition a top priority of his department, ramming through numerous controversial policies in an effort to demonstrate his passion for reform.

Associated Press writer Dorie Turner put it this way in her report: "But some education groups said 'Race to the Top' rewarded states that have weak reform efforts while leaving out those like Colorado and Louisiana that have made strides to overhaul their schools."

Could loss of the federal funds have anything to do with a governor who's spent the last few months on a beach loudly criticizing the federal government? Or who bemoaned federal spending even as he handed out oversized cardboard checks written on accounts funded by that same government?

With friends like these...

With just over 40 months in office under his belt and an annual review right around the corner, there are questions about State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek's standing in the education community, and Advocate reporter Will Sentell is asking them

You may recall that Sentell's original interview with the superintendent didn't go all that well - instead of bragging about his accomplishments, the prickly Pastorek chose to attack education leaders instead.

So this time, Sentell asked best Pastorek's allies what they think about him. Generally, they say Pastorek's doing a good job, but...

BESE Member Chas Roemer says ,“He does step on toes sometimes, and probably at times unnecessarily.”

And Louisiana Association of Business and Industry Vice President Brigitte Nieland says, “As someone once told me, you can cut deeper and more strategically with a scalpel than a sledge hammer. Sometimes Paul uses a sledge hammer rather than a scalpel.”

New Orleans schools aren't serving special education students well

It seemed like the wholesale takeover of New Orleans schools by the state following Hurricane Katrina was going so well, what with the Recovery School District spending twice the per-pupil amount as the state's other public schools, and all.


Then the Southern Poverty Law Center has to go and spoil it all by revealing that the city's Recovery District and charter schools are doing a lousy job of caring for special needs students.


As Times-Picayune reporter Cindy Chang puts it in this story, "Thirteen students with disabilities have filed a complaint against the Louisiana Department of Education alleging that the agency has looked the other way while New Orleans public schools commit a range of federal violations, from refusing to enroll them to failing to provide a blind third-grader with a full-time aide."


And since there are only a small handful of schools left under the jurisdiction of the much-maligned Orleans Parish School Board, there's no place left to place special needs children except the schools that were taken over by the state.


For his part, Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek is simply SHOCKED to learn that children aren't getting the services they deserve, and if only the Southern Poverty Law Center had called him instead of filing a lawsuit, this all could have been handled without any public outcry.