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.

Over LFT objection, panel okays evaluation plan

LFT President Steve Monaghan explains the union's position to the House Education Committee.





The science that underlies a proposed new teacher evaluation plan may have merit, but the jury is out on whether it is ready to become law, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today. Nonetheless, the House Education Committee approved the bill without objection, and sent it to the House floor for further action.

Testifying before the committee, Monaghan said that HB 1033 by Rep. Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe) is based on a promising but untested science called a Value Added Model, or VAM.
“This young science has both advocates and doubters in the academic community,” Monaghan said. “We believe it is problematic to build a value-added model into law without the benefit of an adequate field test.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe) credited Monaghan with helping to create amendments that made the bill more palatable to teachers. Changes included a guarantee of teacher confidentiality, a process to challenge unfavorable evaluations, and a requirement that charter schools also be subject to the law, among others.

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

Here's how it's done right

Higher Education Commissioner Sally Clausen has given the state's high-paid poohbahs a lesson in how to handle an economic crisis. She cut her own salary in half.

Here's a shout-out to all the contractors, department heads, commissioners and assorted leeches who deserve their high-flying salaries because hey, you have to pay top salaries to get the top people: Do what Sally did.

And while you're considering which nationally certified educators can do without their stipends, or which school support employees can work for less because you've decided to privatize their jobs: Do what Sally did.

While you're deciding which potholes can go unpatched, which bridges can rust, which parks can be padlocked: Do what Sally did.

That's all. Do what Sally Clausen did.

Jindal one of the worst?

Is Gov. Bobby Jindal the source of our nation's new "gold standard" in governmental ethics (oxymoron, anyone?), or is he one of the worst governors in the United States?

The Citizens for responsibility and Ethics comes down solidly on the side of "worst," with a little assist from the governor's co-Republicans, State Sen. Robert Adley and State Rep Wayne Waddell.

As Advocate reporter Marsha Shuler puts it in this article, CREW named Jindal "...one of the worst governors in the nation, citing his poor record in ethics and government transparency."

Panel acts to dismantle teacher salary schedule

The House Education Committee took a step toward dismantling the state's teacher salary schedule today when it approved House Bill 739 by Rep. Frank Hoffman of West Monroe.

The bill represents a true race to the bottom, as it allows school districts to pit retired teachers against current teachers in a contest to see who will work for the lowest salary.

If the bill becomes law, retired teachers who return to the classroom will not be allowed to enter the system at their former place on the salary ladder. Instead, school boards will "negotiate" their salaries. Testimony revealed that the intent is to pay them the same salary as beginning teachers.

Neither will the returning teachers ever be allowed to earn tenure or advance on the salary schedule - they will be year-to-year employees.

LFT President Steve Monaghan was the only person to present arguments against the bill, and he did it passionately.

"This is a direct affront to the salary schedule," Monaghan said. "Teachers should be paid for the service that they bring to a school."

"There will be unintended consequences to this legislation," he said. "It represents a disincentive for school boards to hire younger teachers if they can get veterans for less money."

The committee gave the bill a favorable recommendation, and then referred it to the House Retirement Committee for further action.

Times-Picayune explains it all for you

The Times-Picayune starts out doing what it does best in this Cindy Chang story - bashing New Orleans schools, praising the state-seized Recovery School District and going on about how much better off people are in Houston.

But then things get hazy.

Could be they're not better off in Houston: “Meanwhile," Chang writes, "New Orleans public school students have also made academic progress, though the results in each location involve different exams and cannot be directly compared."

So there has been improvement among New Orleans students. According to the Picayune's mythology, that must be because of the RSD, "which took over most of the city's schools after Katrina, (and) a combination of factors, including the post-storm prevalence of charter schools."

The article fawns over RSD chief Paul Vallas, and quotes him as saying, "Clearly, the kids we have in this district now are doing far better than they did prior to Katrina."

Then, in a true feat of journalistic dissonance, comes the very next sentence in the story. Read it slowly, and savor the contradiction: "According to Tulane's Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives, which consolidated data from the Recovery School District and the Orleans Parish School Board, the city logged a 10-point improvement in district performance scores from 2005 to 2008 -- a gain roughly equal to that posted during the years prior to the storm."

The Picayune continues in that vein in the editorial of the day: "The progress shown here and in Texas involves different tests and cannot be directly compared. But clearly New Orleans children are doing much better now than they were before the storm."

As our favorite barrister explains it, "So, the kids are doing far better in Houston than in New Orleans, except they aren’t. And the kids are doing far better now because of charter schools, except they’re doing the same."

Committee defers sick leave and sabbatical bills

LFT President Steve Monaghan explains the Federation's opposition to HB 399 and HB 400, which threatened sick leave and sabbatical benefits.

Two pieces of legislation that educators feared would harm their sick leave and sabbatical leave benefits were deferred by the House Education Committee today.

Rep. Kevin Pearson (R-Slidell) voluntarily sidetracked his HB 399 and HB 400 when it became apparent that the committee would not approve the bills. In just the past week, nearly 1,500 people sent messages to the Education Committee urging them to vote against the bills. The messages were coordinated by the LFT Action Center.

HB 399 would have allowed school boards an exemption from granting sabbatical leave if the state fails to fund a 2.75% growth factor in public education’s Minimum Foundation Program.

HB 400 would have granted school boards the same exemption for teachers and school employees applying for extended sick leave.

LFT President Steve Monaghan said the bills would encourage school systems to take away hard-won rights from teachers and school employees. Monaghan told the committee that the bills amounted to "death by a thousand paper cuts" for teachers and school employees.

LFT President defends teacher tenure

LFT President Steve Monaghan discusses the Federation's support for teacher tenure, and talks about ensuring tenure's role as a professional distinction and mark of excellence.

To read more about the issue, please click here.

More bad budget news – $319 million deficit announced

Louisiana is reeling from the latest bit of bad budget news: on Wednesday, the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference announced that the state faces a $319 million deficit which must be corrected in the next 10 weeks.

In a press conference Friday morning, Gov. Bobby Jindal said that he hopes to avoid further cuts to higher education, which has borne the brunt of budget cuts thus far this year, and added that he hopes to avoid layoffs of furloughs of state workers.

The governor did not outline specific measures, but told reporters that he may free up money that has accumulated in various funds around the state.

Advocate reporter Michelle Millhollon has the story here.

Workforce Commission backs LFT and Filipino teachers

Universal Placement International to repay $1.8 million in illegally charged fees

Additional resources:Click here to read the Workforce Commission findings and determination
Click here to read the initial press release and official complaint filed by the Federation

A Louisiana Workforce Commission administrative law judge has ruled in favor of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers and Filipino educators who were victims of an illegitimate California-based recruiting firm.

“This is more than just a victory for the Filipino teachers who were abused by the company,” said LFT President Steve Monaghan. “It is a validation of the rule of law, and a commitment by the State of Louisiana to protect the rights of all working people”

Responding to allegations filed by the American Federation of Teachers and the LFT, Administrative Law Judge Shelly Dick has ordered Universal Placement International to repay Filipino teachers an estimated $1.8 million in illegally charged placement fees, as well as a $500 fine and $7,500 in attorney fees.

The Commission will also refer the case to appropriate authorities for criminal sanctions against UPI and its owner, Lourdes “Lulu” Navarro.

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

News-Star: Jindal plan is "passing the buck"

The Monroe News-Star has weighed in on the dispute over reserve funds held by local school boards.

Just a few weeks ago, school boards belatedly responded to the Jindal administration's allegation that the billion-plus dollars in school board kitties could go a long way toward solving public education's funding problems. That was when the governor suggested that locals pay for items, including teacher stipends and private school busing, that have traditionally been the state's responsibility.

The News-Star has it right when it says, "As a short-term fix it only shifts an imminent burden from one level of government to the next. That's passing the buck, not a well-conceived solution."

Problem is, the administration steadfastly refuses to consider revenue solutions for the state's overwhelming budget problems. As long as that's the order of the day, buck passing is the only arrow in the governor's quiver.

Rationality in the teacher evaluation debate

One of the touchiest subjects in all of education right now is the evaluation of teachers. It's easy to understand why. Teachers have been the victims of curious instruments in the past - does anyone have fond remembrance of LaTIP/LaTEP in the late 1980s? That disastrous instrument scored teachers by how many "benchmarks" they were able to hit during observations scored by evaluators with checklists. Teachers aren't trained monkeys, but LaTIP/LaTEP treated them as if they were. It failed miserably.

Yet there are few who could honestly say that the current evaluation method, which depends on subjective judgments by administrators, is the best possible way to judge a teacher's effectiveness.

So how to proceed? Education Week reporter Susan H. Fuhrman has made an effort to cut through the fog and smoke and come up with a rational article about teacher evaluation.

Fuhrman starts with the observation that "value added" is the flavor of the moment, and likely will play a role in future instruments promoted at both the national and state levels. And the idea that teachers can be evaluated in part by measuring the progress of students in their classrooms is attractive.

The idea is not to base the evaluation on the outcome of a single test, but to determine how much student improvement is made. Thus a teacher whose students begin two years behind but end up just half a year behind could be considered a star.

But there are pitfalls, as the EdWeek article points out. That means we should tread carefully. And the political process, which can be very clumsy, has a way of highlighting flaws and codifying poorly thought-out processes along ideological fault lines.

We've been there before, and it didn't work. The right solution is to let research lead the way, with allowances for failure and missteps, and permission to change when necessary.

Retirement system responds to criticism

The Teachers Retirement system of Louisiana has responded to a Greater Baton Rouge Business Report article claiming that TRSL appears on “a list of the most risky public retirement funds.”

In a press release, TRSL Public Information Director Lisa Honore says the study mentioned in the newspaper “is not based on a widely accepted methodology.” Another study which does use industry standards says that TRSL’s portfolio is actually “less risky than the median public pension fund with assets greater than $1 billion.”

“TRSL has a highly diversified investment portfolio structured to perform well over the long term and achieve a target return of 8.25 percent,” says the press release. “In fact, the System has exceeded its target rate with a 25-year return of 8.68 percent for the period ended June 30, 2009. Furthermore, TRSL’s seven-year investment return ranks in the top third (32 percentile) of the Wilshire Public Plan Greater than $1 billion Peer Group.”

Study: National certification has measurable benefits

A new study by the State Department of Education shows that teachers who earn national certification produce students with measurably higher achievement, but it is not clear that the certification can be credited with the results.

Researcher Dr. George Noell released the results of his study at Thursday’s meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission for Educational Excellence. The study was requested after State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek told a Senate committee that certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards does not necessarily enhance classroom teaching.

Pastorek’s statement was largely seen as cover for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to halt state funding of a $5,000 annual stipend for teachers who earn national certification. The superintendent later apologized for his comments.

Dr. Noell said that his study is the largest ever done on the effectiveness of nationally certified teachers, and that it confirmed other studies that “suggest there are advantages” to the certification. The study was limited to measuring improved outcomes on standardized tests, and included test data for about 250,000 Louisiana students over a three-year period. There are more than 1,500 nationally certified teachers in the state.

The researcher cautioned commission members about limitations of his study. “We know how much more effective (nationally certified teachers) are,” he said. “We don’t know if it is because of national board certification.”

The positive results could also be explained because those teachers are more motivated than others, he said. The study did not include a measure of test results before and after teachers earned national certification.

Dr. Noell said the survey results will probably not be very helpful in the debate over payment of the stipend to nationally certified teachers. “It is complicated,” he said, “because we made a promise and passed a law.”

The underlying issue is the state of the economy, according to Dr. Noell. “If it weren’t for the current budget crisis,” he said, “I wouldn’t have been asked to do this work.”

“Bondage and harassment” alleged against Philippine recruiter

AFT Attorney Dan McNeil, left, grills Universal Placement International director Jack Navarro in a Louisiana Workforce Commission hearing.

(Baton Rouge - April 6, 2009) Filipino teachers in Louisiana saw the wheels of justice take a turn on Monday when the state’s Workforce Development Commission held a hearing on the validity of contracts that allegedly violate state and federal law.

In the next two weeks, an administrative law judge will rule on complaints filed against Universal Placement International by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers. The company recruited Filipino teachers for Louisiana classrooms.

Testimony by teachers revealed shocking details of company practices that one called “bondage and harassment.”

“The alleged behavior of this recruiter and the treatment of these teachers is quite frankly disgusting and an affront to basic American values,” said LFT President Steve Monaghan.

Penalties that could be assessed against the California-based UPI include the voiding of all contracts with Filipino teachers, refunds of the thousands of dollars in fees paid by the teachers, and fines.

A director of the company, Jack Navarro, admitted under oath that the company does not have a license to act as an employment agency in Louisiana and does not maintain an office here, as required by law. Since the complaints were filed, he said, UPI applied for a license and was denied.

To read more of this story, please click here.

Post-holiday catch up edition

Much has happened during the short Easter break. The legislature is back in session, but unlike previous years, the opening was marked by dissension.

Leadership issues: Because former Speaker Pro Tem Karen Carter Peterson was elected to the Senate, the House had to choose a new pro tem. Normally, that's not a big deal. The guys gather in a back room, agree with the governor's pick for the post, and hold an election to make it official.

But as Times-Picayune reporter Ed Anderson writes here, this year there were actually two candidates: Independent Joel Robideaux of Lafayette, who had the nod from Speaker of the House Jim Tucker, and Democrat Noble Ellington of Winnsboro. Surprisingly, Ellington came within a handful of votes of beating Robideaux.

Retribution from Speaker Tucker was swift and harsh, as reported here by the Picayune's Jan Moller. Ellington and some of his supporters lost plum committee assignments, and Ellington was threatened with the loss of his digs at the prestigious Pentagon Barracks near the capitol.

Jindal losing his luster? A poll from LSU's Public Policy Research Lab revealed that Governor Jindal's direction for the state may no longer be supported by a majority of residents.

As reported here by Advocate bureau chief Mark Ballard, a solid majority oppose the governor's rigid opposition to taxes in the face of the state's economic crisis, and 51% say the repeal of the Stelly tax reforms was a mistake "because it cost state revenue and contributed to the current budget shortfall." Nearly 60% say the Stelly reforms should be reinstated.

College shake-up in the works? Higher education in Louisiana probably won't look the same after this legislative session. As Bill Barrow of The Advocate reports here, several plans are floating around the capitol that would restructure governance of colleges and universities. The most drastic would replace the state's four college boards with one 15-member board of trustees.








http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-7/127059361068810.xml&coll=1 college shakeup

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/89752752.html Jindal plan unpopular

Didn't see that coming...

News that Louisiana's bid for federal Race to the Top funding has been denied (reported here by Leslie Turk of The Independent) startled Baton Rouge today, adding another layer of uncertainty to an already chaotic legislative session.

It was shortly before Gov. Bobby Jindal gave his opening address of the 2010 session, during which he described the budget woes facing the state, that education officials learned Louisiana will not be getting money from the federal program. Supporters were hoping to get as much as $300 million.

Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek put on a brave face and congratulated Tennessee and Delaware, the two states selected to get R2T funds. They will get at total of $600 million, leaving the bulk of the $4.35 billion program up for grabs in the next round of announcements, which comes in June.

In a press release, Pastorek said that Louisiana will be a competitor in June: "We believe our success and commitment to these reforms will help us secure funding in the next round of grants. In the meantime, we will take this opportunity to consider feedback from the reviewers, and we will work to amend our application so that we more clearly articulate Louisiana’s progress, promise and plan. "

Another explosive issue

Here's another bill to add to the list of incendiary devices being hurled at the capitol this spring. Rep. Steve Carter of Baton Rouge wants to take away the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's authority to approve charter schools and give it to a panel mostly appointed by the governor.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, the governor's appointees will come from lists provided by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools and the Council for a Better Louisiana.

A LABI spokesperson says, with what can only be assumed to be a straight face, “This is an effort to somewhat depoliticize the process.”

The budget: An exercise in bad choices

Watch LFT President Steve Monaghan briefly describe the budget crisis facing public education in Louisiana. Then click here to learn more about the issue, and to see what you can do to help solve the problem!

Picking scabs

Reporter John Maginnis reiterates the mistakes that contributed so heavily to our current fiscal dilemma.

Explosive issues face legislature

The legislative session opens in less than a week, and from the looks of this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell, things could get very hot very fast.

Here's the short list: Sen. Ben Nevers of Bogalusa, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, will ask his colleagues to demand that the state, not local school boards, pay stipends for educators with national certification. That puts him at loggerheads with the Jindal administration.

Now comes another poke at the governor's agenda, by a member of his own Republican party. A bill by Rep. Rogers Pope of Denham Springs would negate Gov. Jindal's proposal to force local school boards to pay for transporting private and religious school students.

Rep. Steve Carter of Baton Rouge wants to submit a term-limits bill for school board members. That's a declaration of war against the same group Carter fought last year, with bills that would have curbed most school board authority.

Carter is also planning to introduce a bill that would "compress the time for teachers to undergo remediation before any hearings on their job security, which is called tenure."

Tenure is a third rail of education politics. Even though Carter has not said his that plan is to dilute tenure laws, the very mention of the word sends a potent signal. Tenure rights were hard to win. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers and others will watch carefully, and won't tolerate efforts to water down teachers' due process rights.

Yet another incendiary bill, HB 489 by Rep. Joe Harrison, would abolish the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The proposed constitutional amendment would transfer BESE's authority to the Superintendent of Education, who would be appointed by the governor.



Trenches are being dug in Baton Rouge. This could be a long siege.

School districts defend reserve funds

Better late than never. School boards are finally responding to the Jindal administration's claim that they have enough money in reserve to take on some expenses that the state can no longer afford.

The administration says that school boards have accumulated a total balance of some $1.1 billion. If that's true, they reason, the boards are in better shape than the state. Earlier this month, EdLog explained that school boards have brought some of this on themselves: "boards have not been transparent in explaining why (the surplus funds) were accumulated in the first place."

But Advocate reporter Charles Lussiere writes here that school boards have now come up with a number of reasons why their reserve funds might not be ripe for picking by the state.

Last year, the big fight in the legislature was over school board authority. This year, it will be over money. It remains to be seen which is more vicious.

Follow the logic

The Advocate has some really bad news for higher education. As reporter Jordan Blum writes, the Jindal administration has announced another $85 million in budget cuts that must be implemented this year.

And Jindal's commissioner of administration, Angelle Davis, predicts that there may be even more cuts coming because of declining tax revenues.

And why are tax revenues in decline?

One reason, of course, is the national economic crisis. The recession, which economists say is slowly ending, certainly dragged our economy down. But it's not the only reason.

Another reason for our situation is the orgy of tax breaks that two governors and successive legislatures indulged in over the past few years.

Not to sound like a broken record, but the unfortunate decision by lawmakers to curtail the Stelly plan's tax reforms have cost our state hundreds of millions of dollars that could be shoring up higher education right now.

The Stelly plan was done in by demagogues who falsely claimed that it broke a promise by raising taxes on higher income citizens. In actuality, Stelly worked exactly as it was supposed to. By cutting tax rates for the lowest income citizens, abolishing some regressive sales axes and increasing rates on higher-income earners, Stelly gave Louisiana a fairer, more progressive and more sustainable tax system. One, by the way, that significantly reduced our dependence on income from the volatile oil patch.

The best defense of the Stelly plan we've yet heard comes from the author himself, retired Republican Representative Vic Stelly of Lake Charles.

As Stelly wrote in this letter to The Advocate, his plan "provided a slowly growing revenue stream to cover inflation. That’s why the plan would be bringing in more today, eight years after passage, than it did in 2002."

So while Louisiana would certainly be feeling the pinch had we not so foolishly abandoned the most reasonable tax plan to come down the pike in many years, we might not be talking about such breathtaking cuts to our colleges and universities.

Which brings us to the final stop on this logic trail. Even in the face of massive cuts to education, Jindal is adamant about his "no taxes" pledge.

As this article in the Alexandria Town Talk confirms, Jindal will not seek more revenue, "No matter how much sacrifice is involved."

And it looks like higher education will be the sacrificial offering demanded by the gods of fiscal conservatism.

Major unions oppose ESEA reauthorization

Both major teacher unions are giving President Obama's plan to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (known during the Bush administration as No Child Left Behind) a big "thumbs down."

According to this article by Education Week reporter Stephen Sawchuk, both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have problems with the bill under consideration in Washington.

AFT President Randi Weingarten issued a harsh assessment of the proposal, saying that it "places 100 percent of the responsibility on teachers and gives them zero percent authority."

Weingarten said the proposal, which converts federal programs such as Title I funding into competitive grants, will make school funding too dependent on political issues in the states and "how well a district can write a grant.”

Rep. David R. Obey of Wisconsin, who chairs an appropriations subcommittee, said that he believes the aim should be "keeping local school district and taxpayers’ heads above water until the economy is more fully recovered,” instead of radically redesigning the federal act.

Schools to get construction stimulus

Louisiana schools are in for a $244 million face lift, according to this article in New Orleans CitiBusiness.

The article cites U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu as a source for the news that the state will get over $244 million worth of construction bonds to finance new schools or rehabilitate old ones.

The bonds, which can also be used to purchase land for new schools, are part of the much-maligned federal stimulus act.

Reporter outs BESE skulduggery

Leave it to reporter John Maginnis to cut through the smoke and fog of government and lay out the unvarnished facts. In this column, Maginnis explains why the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Civil Service Commission are the real drivers of the state budget.

Which also explains the skulduggery at the last BESE meeting, in which New Orleans area member James Garvey introduced, and quickly deferred, a motion to depose Board President Keith Guice and the rest of the executive committee.

Members of the board who are not closely aligned with Governor Bobby Jindal prevailed in a vote to reinstate a 2.75% growth factor in public education's budget, even though the governor was hoping to continue a freeze on education spending without a fight.

"To keep this free thinking from getting out of hand," writes Maginnis, "the governor's team has decided it needs new leadership on BESE, which means dumping current chairman Keith Guice of Monroe, who heads the opposition faction."

Garvey refused to discuss his motives for introducing the motion, but said he will explain himself when he resurrects the issue from the table. He will be able to do that whenever he believes the time is right for a vote.

USA Today asks the college question

The USA Today headline says it all: What if a college education just isn't for everyone?

It's an issue that EdLog has followed over the past year. A controversial piece of legislation, passed over the objections of the State Department of Education, created a career diploma for Louisiana last year. If it works as it should, we noted, career education can save kids in danger of dropping out and put them on the path toward rewarding and fulfilling occupations.

The USA Today article by reporter Mary Beth Marklein concedes that a college degree is "widely seen as the ticket to personal economic security and to global competitiveness."

But it also notes that "fewer than 60% of new students graduate from four-year colleges in six years, and just one in three community college students earn a degree."

Which begs the question: are we using our educational resources wisely?

It's a vital debate to have. Hopefully, the results of Louisiana's experiment with a career diploma will provide some answers.

Hypocrisy: Big salaries in Jindal administration

There's not enough money for the state to continue paying stipends to nationally certified educators. Not enough money to give public education's Minimum Foundation Program the 2.75% growth factor it needs.

But there's enough money to increase salaries in Gov. Bobby Jindal's Division of Administration by nearly $7 million over what former gov. Kathleen Blanco was paying, writes Gannett reporter Stephen Largent in this article.

Largent says that under Gov. Blanco, the Division of Administration had 108 employees making $80,000 or more, for a total of $10,816,484. Under Jindal, that has risen to 177 employees making at least $80,000, at a total of $17,667,456.

BESE votes for 2.75% school funding increase...

...But President Keith Guice is slapped for his defiance

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education confirmed its finance committee's decision to include a 2.75% growth factor in public education's Minimum Foundation Program, as reported here by Will Sentell of The Advocate.

As Gannett's Mike Hasten reports here, reprisals were quickly launched against those who defied Gov. Bobby Jindal's request for a frozen Minimum Foundation Program.

BESE member James Garvey of Metairie, an ally of the governor, introduced a motion to replace BESE President Keith Guice and other officers after just two months in office.

Guice and his fellow officers narrowly escaped being deposed, but their ordeal might not be over. The board voted 6-5 to defer action on Garvey's motion, not to defeat it. That means the motion can be brought back for a vote whenever Garvey feels that he can get it passed, according to Hasten's article.

St. James board guarantees teacher stipends

Responding to Gov. Bobby Jindal's proposed budget - which leaves out funding for nationally certified teachers' supplements - the St. James parish School Board has decided to cover the loss with local funds.

This story by Advocate reporter Ryan Lamy says the vote to continue the $5,000 annual supplement with local funds was unanimous. The vote was largely symbolic, because state law requires local boards to continue the teacher supplement without state funding.

The report does not state whether or not St. James Parish will continue to pay supplements for other nationally certified professionals, such as speech therapists and school psychologists. They are also entitled to a stipend by state law but, unlike the teacher stipend, there is no guarantee in law that they will receive the money.

What's on the chopping block?

Retirement, sick leave and sabbaticals targeted

As the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education argued about increasing public education's Minimum Foundation Program this morning, a disturbing sidebar conversation set off alarms about benefits now offered to Louisiana's teachers and school employees.

The vote centered on about $60 million tacked on to the MFP as a growth factor (see the story below). But as local school superintendents made their cases for the funds, they kept mentioning the cost of three benefits: the retirement system, extended sick leave and sabbatical leave.

BESE member Penny Dastuge, who chaired the hearing, noted that even if the $60 million growth factor is included in the budget adopted by the legislature, it won't be enough to cover those costs.

During the discussion, Central Community Superintendent of Schools Michael Faulk wondered aloud if there could be a "trade" that would allow local districts to make extended sick leave and sabbaticals optional instead of mandatory.

Then BESE member Chas Roemer rhetorically asked "is the current teacher retirement system feasible?"

LFT President Steve Monaghan said that the solution is more revenue to meet the needs of public education, not the reduction or elimination of benefits that educators have earned and deserve.

Look for these issues to play out during the legislative session that opens on March 29.

Legislative battle line drawn over MFP growth factor

LFT President Steve Monaghan
urges the Board of Elementary
and Secondary Education to
include a 2.75% "growth factor"

in public education's Minimum

Foundation Program.

By a close, six-to-five majority, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education today set the stage for a showdown that will include Governor Bobby Jindal, state lawmakers, local school boards and various public education interests.

It's a fight that Jindal doesn't want, and worked hard in the background to keep from happening.

The fight will be over the 2.75% "growth factor" in public education's Minimum Foundation Program. It amounts to about $60 million and, for more than a decade, has virtually been an automatic add-on to the money that the state funnels down to local school boards every year.

Until last year, when the governor said that the state's budget woes made it impossible to provide the growth factor. BESE members swallowed hard and went along, but promised that this year's budget would include the increase.

But promises mean nothing unless they are kept, and one of the big background struggles in Baton Rouge has been over whether or not BESE would include the growth factor in this year's MFP request. The governor squeezed as hard as he could to keep members from voting for the growth factor.

At a hearing this morning, local superintendents made the case that rising costs for retirement, health insurance and accountability mandates just can't be met without an increase in state funds. LFT President Steve Monaghan joined them in urging BESE to include the growth factor in the MFP request.


Today's vote settled BESE's position, but that's not the end of the story.

The legislature has to approve BESE's funding request, and that means there will be a fight over the $60 million in a year when most state agencies are facing big cuts. The big questions now concern just how bloody that fight will become in the legislature, and what retribution Jindal will take against BESE members who voted against his wishes.

Common standards draft released

Education Week has a breakdown of the new draft release of the national common core standards, issued today by the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

The draft, EdWeek reporter Catherine Gewertz writes, "is being greeted with a mix of praise and skepticism." On one hand, many people understand that it is desirable to have high expectations of students and that there should truly be a body of knowledge common to all American students. On the other, many are concerned about increased federal intrusion into curricula, which they believe should be state initiatives.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is a fan of the new draft. In a press release, she states that, "These standards represent the best effort so far to transform today’s patchwork quilt of 50 sets of state standards into one set of strong, consistent expectations for what all students should know and learn."

The draft document is posted on the CCSSI Web site, and is open for public comment through April 2.

Ravitch tackles fads, movements and reforms

Diane Ravitch started out as a supporter of President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. But she, like most teachers who have encountered the beast, now lumps it with the other "fads, movements and reforms" that distract us from real educational improvement.

In a USA Today article, education reporter Greg Toppo writes about Ravitch's conversion from a NCLB supporter to an extreme skeptic. And it's not just NCLB that raises Ravitch's hackles - the charter school movement, she says, is a "far cry" from the vision of the late AFT President Al Shanker, who saw the potential of charters as "laboratories of innovation within existing public schools."

As reported by Toppo, Ravitch says that charter schools "cherry-pick a neighborhood's best students and kick out under-performers, forcing surrounding public schools to teach a depleted talent pool."

Ravitch, whose blog is on EdLog's list of interesting links, has a new book on the market, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education. It promises to be a great read.

Watering down the teaching degree?

Try to follow this logic: in a state which is constantly ratcheting up requirements for teachers and demanding more rigorous evaluations, one important group suggests lowering the requirements to earn a teaching degree.

Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here that the Blue Ribbon Commission for Educational Excellence was asked by the Board of Regents to consider reducing the number of hours required for a teaching degree to 120. Currently, the requirement ranges from 124 to 128 or higher.

LFT President Steve Monaghan is right to question whether the real intent is to cut costs for colleges, and whether the action might devalue the teaching degree.

LFT on Race to the Top: Now the work begins

Louisiana made the first cut in the competition for nearly $4.4 billion in new federal education funds. Now, as LFT President Steve Monaghan says in this press release, the real work will begin.

That's because the work done thus far has largely been theoretical or, as Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek likes to put it, "at the 10,000 foot level."

Not that the deliberations that went into the state's application were easy or uncomplicated, or without controversy. But that was the level at which philosophical differences were explored, and agreements reached that promise great flexibility to educators at the "ground level." The success of Race to the Top will now be determined by those local educators.

As Monaghan puts it, "The work to be done must occur in an arena of mutual respect and with a strong commitment to do what is good for children, is effective, and is fair to educators and staff.”

Gannett reporter Mike Hasten covered the story for this report.

Senator praises LFT efforts in Race to the Top

While acknowledging the Louisiana Federation of Teachers' concerns about the federal Race to the Top program, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu has praised the union for "supporting the state's efforts to secure as much of this grant money as possible."

In a letter to Federation President Steve Monaghan, the senator wrote "This historic $4.3 billion competitive grant program...represents an unprecedented investment in innovation and reform in education."

"An investment in reform that can transform our state's education system would be the greatest legacy we could leave our children," Senator Landrieu wrote. "Moreover, the economic viability of our state depends on training a well-educated workforce capable of excelling in 21st century jobs."

"I understand that LFT does not agree with all of the details of the state's plan," the senator continued. "However, it is admirable that your organization is supporting the state's efforts to secure as much of this grant money as possible despite your differences. I am confident that any concerns you may have with the plan can be ironed out as we move forward."

Click here to read the full letter.

Pastorek apologizes, and school boards have some 'splainin to do

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek has apologized for his intemperate language regarding national board certification for teachers. In this article by Times-Picayune capitol bureau chief Robert Travis Scott, Pastorek says, "I regret that recent comments I made may have failed to communicate the high regard I hold for our nationally board certified teachers. I fully recognize and appreciate that these teachers are experienced and valued educators who go through a difficult and costly process to earn the NBCT designation."

Pastorek's original statement - that national certification may not make teachers more effective in the classroom - was a clumsy effort to give Governor Bobby Jindal cover for his plan to shift state budget obligations to local school boards. With the Pastorek sideshow out of the way, it's time to concentrate on that very real issue.

The stipends for national certification are unquestionably a state obligation. So is the other main budget shift proposed by the governor, the cost of transporting private and religious school students.

The governor's argument is that in a time of budget crisis, everyone needs to do what they can to help. His point is made in this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell. Five school systems in the state have a combined total of $278 million in financial reserves, which the governor says should be tapped for costs the state can't afford.

According to the State Department of Education, the state's 70 school systems have a combined $1.1 billion in fund balances.

If that looks bad for the school boards, it's their own fault. The reserve funds exist, and boards have not been transparent in explaining why they were accumulated in the first place. But that does not mean all the money in those reserves is available to help shoulder state obligations.

Years ago, financial experts at the Department of Education were critical of local school boards because they did not have adequate reserve funds. They recommended that districts keep as much as 10% of their operating budget in reserve.

There are several potential uses for those funds that may explain why they shouldn't be used to offset state obligations. They may be saved for capital projects like new buildings. They may be held in anticipation of rising costs for insurance, retirement and other employee benefits. In systems which have a large number of schools that have been chartered or taken over by the state, there will be legacy costs for providing retiree benefits out of a shrunken pool of employees.

Those are legitimate reasons for telling the governor "no." But school boards have been reluctant to explain their reserve funds to the public. Unless they do, they can expect to be targeted. That has already begun. In a Baton Rouge Business Report online survey, 58% of respondents say that local school boards should "pick up the tab" for nationally certified teacher stipends. Only 24% say the state should continue to pay, and 10% say certified teachers shouldn't be paid a a stipend at all.

The truth about teacher tenure

There is obviously a broad misunderstanding, shared by some in the business community and even in the Department of Education, that teachers are "automatically" granted tenure after working in a school for three years.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, they believe that tenure is "passive and routinely granted" after "just the lapse of three years."

That, of course, is simply not true. As LFT President Steve Monaghan points out in this letter to the editor, "in order to become tenured, a teacher must first have an academic degree, pass the relevant sections of the PRAXIS examination, and meet all other requirements to be certified. In addition, the teacher must then undergo a three-year probationary period. During that time, the teacher must be mentored, observed and evaluated by school administrators."

Administrators, Monaghan notes, have an obligation to ensure that teachers are effective before tenure is granted.

The LFT president says that tenure "should be a mark of excellence, and connote to the general public that the teacher who has earned tenure is a highly qualified, professional educator."

The Federation's goal, says Monaghan is to ensure that tenure is "an active and meaningful process, one that honors the teaching profession, enhances the teacher's professional credentials, and provides the general public with an assurance of quality."

Simply put, the Federation will support initiatives that aim for that goal, and oppose any that seek to diminish teachers or to devalue teacher tenure.

Tell lawmakers: Don't starve public education!

There is grim news for our schools in Governor Bobby Jindal's proposed budget. Because of bad choices made over the past few years, the state is facing a huge deficit. The governor wants to fix the problem by cutting funds for public education. But at the same time, he wants to increase funds for religious school vouchers and quasi-public charter schools.

If the governor gets his way, these cuts will be made:

• No more promised stipends for nationally certified teachers, guidance counselors, librarians, and therapists.
• For the second year, over $60 million in Minimum Foundation Program growth funds will be eliminated.
• Local school systems will be forced to pay for transportation of private and religious school students.
• Nearly $13 million in mid-year education budget cuts will be annualized.

But the governor wants to spend $8 million on vouchers that mainly benefit Catholic schools in New Orleans, $35 million on state-approved, quasi-public charter schools, and almost $1 million in contracts to "manage charter schools application and evaluation processes." The State Department of Education will receive $73 million for what it calls "building human capital."

The governor's plan is bad for our schools, bad for our teachers and school employees, and bad for our children!

The first stop for the governor's proposed budget is the House Appropriations Committee. Please click this link and send committee members a message: Don't starve public education!

Jindal brazenly declares "no cuts for education"

In a display of mendacity and hypocrisy so breathtaking that it could earn a perfect 10 on an Olympic scale, Governor Bobby Jindal today announced that his budget "includes no cuts for higher education schools or K-12 education."

This in the same week that the governor is taking heat for proposing the elimination of state-paid stipends for nationally certified educators, eliminating the Minimum Foundation Program's growth factor, cutting transportation funds for local school boards and annualizing $13 million in mid-year budget cuts.

Does the governor believe that no one in Shreveport - where he made the bizarre announcement - has read news reports about cutting the certification stipend?

Advocate editorial gets it right

Today's lead editorial in The Advocate takes Governor Bobby Jindal and Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek to task for their outrageous comments about the $5,000 stipend for nationally certified educators:

We’re disheartened by the news that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed budget calls for the elimination of
$5,000-per-year stipends for public-school teachers who have earned national
board certification.
We also are disappointed that state Superintendent
of Education Paul Pastorek, who previously championed the value of
national board certification, is backing away from his support.

The editorial makes note of Pastorek's hypocrisy. This week, Pastorek dismissed the value of national certification, but just last December he praised the certification as something that "will clearly benefit them and their students."

Pastorek and Jindal diss nationally certified teachers

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek reduced his stature by carrying Governor Jindal's water in this article by Advocate reporter Michelle Millhollon.

It was bad enough when the governor announced that he plans to eliminate stipends for nationally board certified teachers from the state budget. But for Pastorek to take it upon himself to denigrate the achievement of those who've earned the honor is simply disgraceful.

The rank hypocrisy of the superintendent's comments in The Advocate is stunning. On Tuesday, he told a state budget panel that certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards "does not mean teachers are effective in the classroom."

But not too long ago, Pastorek wrote on his own Web site that "Educators that are committed to going through the rigorous process of becoming nationally certified also demonstrate a high level of commitment to the profession and to the students they teach. As a result, the academic achievement of our students will continue to increase as the number of NBCTs grows each year."

As of this writing, the quote is still on the Web site. Click quickly, it might be scrubbed soon.

The story gets worse

Even as Jindal and his apologist in the Claiborne building tear down the reputations of teachers who've demonstrated their excellence, they are planning to siphon even more funds away from public education for the benefit of private and religious schools.

Jindal's budget will reportedly include an additional $3 million for vouchers that mainly benefit Catholic schools in New Orleans. When lawmakers questioned the expense, Pastorek responded that “I don’t think we’re shorting the public school system.”

Except, of course, for the stipends that were promised to educators who earned national certification.

National certification stipend on the chopping block?

Governor Bobby Jindal now says that his upcoming budget will eliminate the $5,000 stipend for teachers who earn national certification, as well as for transporting private and religious school students.

Because the expenditures are mandated by law, local school boards will have to pick up the tab for millions of dollars worth of state obligations, according to this article by Advocate reporter Michelle Millhollon.

With state funding for schools expected to remain frozen this year, how on earth does the governor think school boards can afford his new mandate?

As LFT President Steve Monaghan says in this press release, the governor is merely "kicking the can down the road," expecting others to make decisions that properly belong in the executive office.

“If the state really cannot afford transportation for private school
students, then the governor should propose eliminating the private school
transportation stipend," Monaghan said. "However, national board certification
is an intense process that brings real value to children in Louisiana
classrooms, and we would hope that the governor would make its funding a
priority."

“The truth is that in the past few years, our governor and
legislature indulged in an orgy of tax cuts and rebates that left Louisiana
unable to address the needs of its citizens,” Monaghan said. “Now we are facing
the results of those bad choices, and the people of the state will suffer as a
result.”

Reporter explains Race to the Top

The federal Race to the Top program is a complex beast that defies simple "for it" or "against it" positions. In this article, reporter Sarah Carr provides a solid overview of the state's plan for snagging as much as $315 million from the $4 billion-plus federal grant.

Carr does a good job of explaining the reservations of organizations like LFT. In the final analysis, as LFT President Steve Monaghan puts it in the article, the union's plan is "to stay fully engaged in the application and shape it as much as we possibly could."

Post Mardi Gras wrapup

As hard as it is to believe in Louisiana, things other than SuperBowl and Mardi Gras have happened in the past few days.

Here are a couple of things we might have missed during the celebrations:

BESE member resigns, is replaced

BESE member Tammie McDaniel of Oak Ridge - one of Gov. Jindal's appointees - resigned from the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. One of Gov. Bobby Jindal's three appointees, she made news last summer when the governor asked her to resign from the board after she questioned Recovery District spending in New Orleans.

News-Star reporter Barbara Leader has the story in this article, in which McDaniel says she is leaving the board because she doesn't like all the federal intrusion into state education issues.

In McDaniel's place, Jindal has appointed Connie Bradford of Ruston to the board. She is the Head of School at Cedar Creek School, a private academy, in Ruston.

Jindal proposes no-growth education budget

Governor Bobby Jindal plans to spend no more on public education next year than this one, according to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

That means the usual 2.75% growth factor, which used to be an automatic add-on to the Minimum Foundation Program, will be absent for the second year in a row. Jindal's announcement is not the last word on the subject. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is charged with writing the formula that distributes state money to local school districts, and the legislature has the responsibility to fund it.

News-Star editorial: Tell us more about "red tape reduction"

Northeast Louisiana's most influential newspaper is questioning Gov. Bobby Jindal's proposed education agenda for the upcoming session. The News-Star has an editorial asking for more specific information about the proposal.

LFT has already noted that the stated purpose of the Red Tape Reduction Act will do little to ease the paperwork burden on teachers.

The governor sounded rather specific at his press conference. But as the News-Star points out, the governor "served up platitudes and truisms and the promise of a bill in the next legislative session." But no bill has been produced for review.

The editorial says that supporters of the governor's "plan" should "ask if all stakeholders in public education — BESE, school boards, teachers, parents — will get a say in the bill's development."

That would be the responsible way to reform public education. Let's see if it's on the governor's agenda.

Can't we all just get along?

LFT President Steve Monaghan's letter to Governor Bobby Jindal is getting all kinds of media attention for pointing out the flaws in the governor's proposed education agenda. Headlines like "LFT chief decries Jindal’s plan to cut red tape" (Will Sentell in The Advocate), "Gov. Bobby Jindal's education proposal criticized by Louisiana Federation of Teachers" (Associated Press reporter Melinda Deslatte), "LFT president expresses concerns over Jindal school initiative" (Gannett reporter Mike Hasten) and others all lead by stressing Monaghan's criticism of Jindal's plan.

Journalism thrives on conflict, so it's fair that reporters concentrate on points of disagreement. But with the exception of Mike Hasten's, none of the reports delve into the most important issue raised by Monaghan - that the state would be better off if Governor Jindal would seek cooperation on areas of agreement.

It's a tack taken by LFT in negotiations with Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek over the state's Race to the Top application, and it works. Here's how LFT puts it in a press release:

Instead of pursuing an agenda that guarantees confrontation during the
upcoming session, Monaghan urged the governor to “embrace the philosophy that
marked our Race to the Top discussions.”

“Together, we can find ways to increase respect for and value in tenure
as the ‘meaningful and active process’ described in the application,” Monaghan
wrote. “We can have an honest discussion of R2T’s ‘learning environment index,’
and provide teachers with the power to identify impediments to achievement at
the site level and to trigger corrective action. We can debate ways to reward
teachers for excellence or for additional contributions without appearing to
attack teacher salary schedules.”

“Our recent experience with Superintendent Pastorek and his team in the
creation of the state’s R2T application demonstrated that engagement is far
better than disengagement,” Monaghan’s letter concluded. “We hope that we can
look forward to working with you in the interest of our children in the coming
legislative session.

Estimating conference punts on teacher salaries

The body that creates budget estimates for elementary and secondary education in Louisiana has decided against announcing an average teacher salary in the state, according to this article by Gannett reporter Mike Hasten.

A consultant hired by the Education Estimating Conference "guesstimated" that the average Louisiana teacher's salary would rise by 0.7% this year to $49,238. Muted coughs and muffled laughter greeted the figure - many Louisiana teachers, especially in poor, rural school systems, may never see a paycheck that high.

LFT President Steve Monaghan agreed with the conference's decision. "Why adopt figures that mean nothing?" he asked.

Roemer (jr) on senate campaign trail

BESE member Chas Roemer, anticipating a political campaign to unseat Senator Mary Landrieu, took on his own board yesterday in an effort to burnish credentials as a feisty political outsider - a tack almost identical to the one taken by his father who, running for governor while a member of Congress, promised to brick up the top three floors of the Department of Education.

Roemer, a third generation political insider, told the Press Club of Baton Rouge that "Louisiana’s top school board is broken and its meetings are so politically charged that 'you can hardly breathe,'" according to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

While it is true that during the administration of Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek and Governor Bobby Jindal, the atmostphere at BESE meetings has often been rancorous, few members endorse Roemer's idea to reduce the number of BESE meetings.

Roemer, who represents the Baton Rouge area on the state's education board, attempted to woo the anti-public education vote by attacking teacher tenure. Roemer said that tenure, which is a guarantee of teachers' right to due process, makes it too hard to fire what he characterized as bad teachers.

LFT President Steve Monaghan responded that teachers undergo a rigorous three years of evaluations and must earn certification before they can be tenured. If the system fails to weed out Roemer's "bad teachers," Monaghan said, then "management is not doing its job."

Bobby Jindal's big school flip-fop

Just a year ago, Gov. Bobby Jindal and his minions seemed to believe that school boards were the root of all evil. So incompetent and intrusive were school boards that the governor and Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek prevailed upon freshman legislator Steve Carter to introduce a package of bills that would have stripped local school boards of most of their authority. Joining Jindal and Pastorek in their crusade against local school boards were the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and the Council for a Better Louisiana.

This year, Jindal and his cohorts are flipping like flapjacks. At a press conference attended by Pastorek, Carter LABI and CABL, the governor announced that there are too many restrictions on local school boards. His new legislative package seeks to empower school boards by allowing them to opt out of state laws and policies deemed "burdensome regulations ... that may hinder academic growth."

Judging from the governor's press release, it looks like one big target of the legislation is teacher tenure. That is another big flip-flop. The state's Jindal-approved application for federal Race to the Top funds aims to ensure that tenure “is a meaningful and active process” with “respect and value.”

The administration is no stranger to hypocritical flip-flops, though. This is the same bunch that touts education as the key to economic development while simultaneously stripping higher education budgets, eliminating programs and whole departments.

Saying something stupid...

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said something stupid a couple of days ago: “I spent a lot of time in New Orleans, and this is a tough thing to say, but let me be really honest. I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina.”

Inevitably, when a gaffe that outrageous is committed, the apologies followed. Here is how the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported the apology; here is the Baton Rouge Advocate's version of the retraction.

Left hanging in the lurch after Duncan apologized were State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek and Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas, both of who nodded in bobbleheaded agreement with Duncan's careless comment.

LFT President Steve Monaghan said that Duncan's apology is acceptable, and offered a bit of advice to Pastorek and Vallas:

“Secretary Duncan did the right thing and to his credit, he did so rather quickly,” said Monaghan. “However, it is quite sad that some Louisiana education officials rushed to express their support for his comment. To those officials, we suggest that there is a reason why silence is so often considered golden."

Is the Recovery School District shortchanging special needs children?

All public schools are supposed to admit students without regard to disability or special circumstances. But last week, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education heard a report detailing what Times-Picayune reporter Sarah Carr characterized as "wide, and stubborn, gaps in the number of students with special needs" in New Orleans' charter and Recovery School District schools.

Read her report here.

The comments by readers deserve special notice - there are first-hand reports of charter and RSD schools turning away special education students, even referring them to pricey private schools.

Stelly plan: told ya so

The chickens come home to roost. As has been pointed out umpteen times by EdLog, Governor Jindal and the legislature drove the ship of state into disastrous straits by undoing the Stelly tax reforms of 2002.

We now know that one victim of the tax cut fever that swept Baton Rouge in the past few years is our flagship university, which is about to be downsized to a dinghy.

As reported here by LSU Reveille reporter Xerxes A. Wilson, some 25,000 people have signed a petition "demanding state tax reform and constitutional change."

English instructor Tania Nyman told a rally over the weekend, “Gov. Jindal claims we must suffer this devastation as we tighten our belts in these tough economic times. But we know these cuts are not a result of the downturn in the economy. We know these cuts are a result of the governor and legislature’s decision to repeal tax reforms the people of Louisiana voted for almost 10 years ago.”

Some 400 non-tenured instructors at LSU have received termination letters, mirroring similar cuts at other state colleges and universities. Programs and even whole departments are on the line, at the same time that our so-called "leaders" hypocritically claim that education is Louisiana's hope for a better future.

NYT: Education law will mirror Race to Top

For anyone who still believes they can ignore the federal race to the Top program and it will eventually go away, this New York Times article is a big wake up call.

Times reporter Sam Dillon gets the story straight from capitol insiders. When the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (also known as No Child Left behind) is reauthorized, it will closely follow the pattern set by R2T:

“They want to recast the law so that it is as close to Race to the Top as they can get it, making the money conditional on districts’ taking action to improve schools,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, who attended a recent meeting at which administration officials outlined their plans in broad strokes.

Like it or not, the new direction taken by the feds will include "value added data" - meaning that teachers and schools will be judged, at least in part, by the progress made by individual students during the school year.

Teachers and their unions have an opportunity to get involved and influence the directions taken by public education in the future. Ignoring this trend, however, is a one-way path to irrelevance.