Monaghan: Place sunsets on tax exemptions

This week, Gov. Bobby Jindal issued a press release announcing a legislative plan that would, among other things, impose a sunset on fund dedications adopted by the legislature.

In a letter to the editor that is now appearing around the state, LFT President Steve Monaghan gives a nod of approval to the concept, saying that the idea should be applied to the state's 441 tax exemptions as well.

After all, if it is a good idea to periodically review fund dedications to see if they are serving their purpose, isn't the same true of tax exemptions?

Here's the text of Steve's letter:

In a press release issued this week, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced he will propose a package of bills including, among other things, a sunset provision for nearly all of the state's dedicated funds. These are the areas of the budget that are protected by either Constitution or legislation, which reportedly cannot be easily reduced.

And, as in all legislation, the devil sleeps comfortably in the detail, the governor's call for sunsets and reviews of statutorily protected funds speaks to common sense and good government.

The governor makes a strong point when he says these dedicated funds should be inspected by lawmakers on a regular basis to make sure their dedications serve a legitimate purpose, and are working as intended and that the intention satisfies a need and serves the public's interest.

This concept connotes transparency and accountability and it should also be applied to the 441 separate tax exemptions offered by the state that now cost taxpayers more than
$7.1 billion per year in lost revenue.

Is it really necessary to grant exemptions for drilling in the Haynesville gas find at a cost of more than $100 million to the state? Or to exempt sales taxes on purchases of gold bullion or Mardi Gras beads?

Perhaps these and the many other tax exemptions do serve the public well, but we don't know because once adopted, most tax exemptions are never revisited. Two-thirds have no sunset. So, while they can be passed by a simple majority in the legislature, it takes a two-thirds vote to repeal them.

We urge the governor to apply this standard to the tax exemption budget. Put a sunset clause on them, and give lawmakers the information they need to decide whether or not the exemptions should stay on the books.

Steve Monaghan, President
Louisiana Federation of Teachers

Getting it wrong on LFT and tax breaks

This report from the Associated Press is cropping up in newspapers and on TV stations all around the state. It boldly states that LFT and others "are opposing Gov. Bobby Jindal's plans to seek extensions of several business tax breaks."

The article helpfully explains that Gov. Jindal says the tax breaks "help Louisiana compete for jobs."

To be clear, as was stated in the LFT press release and on our Web page explaining why we believe in Better Choices for a Better Louisiana, we simply want balance and transparency when these tax breaks are considered.

The governor can claim that his tax incentives are luring jobs to the state and are good for the economy. But while Louisiana faces a $1.6 billion budget shortfall, the 441 tax breaks now in existence cost the state $7.1 billion a year in lost revenue.

And who is checking to make sure the tax breaks do indeed bring jobs and enhance our economy? No one. Most tax incentives for businesses have no sunset clause, and are never reexamined once they are created. That's why the legislature passed bills last year requiring hearings to determine how effective these tax incentives are.

Thus far, no hearings have been held. And until they are, we stick to our main point: no further tax exemptions should be granted until we know whether they serve their purpose, or if they are in fact hurting the state's economic development.

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.

Radio show to feature Better Choices for a Better Louisiana

LFT President Steve Monaghan and Louisiana Budget Project Director Eddie Ashworth will be guests on the Jim Engster Show on WRKF-FM, 89.3 on the dial, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 9:00 A.M. Steve and Eddie will be talking about the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana Coalition, and Louisiana’s need for a fairer, more transparent fiscal base.

If you’re not in WRKF’s range, you can listen online at http://wrkf.org and click on “Listen Live.” If you’re busy in the classroom at 9:00 A.M., you can listen whenever you wish to a WRKF podcast. On their Web site, scroll down to “programs” and click on “podcasts.”

While you’re on the WRKF Web site, please click on “Save Your Station” and send a message to Congress, asking members to fund public radio – the new Republican majority has plans to defund public radio, and we could lose valuable news sources like the Jim Engster show.

Exigency and financial crisis: What does it mean to you?

For the third year in a row, Governor Jindal and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education have agreed to write a Minimum Foundation Program formula without increased funding for schools.

Because of that, school boards around the state are considering a declaration of exigency or financial crisis. Some have already done so.

Teachers and school employees want to know what kind of threat these declarations pose to their schools and their jobs. These FAQs will help answer those questions.

To read more, please click here.

North LA districts oppose letter grades for schools

School boards in Caddo, Bossier, Webster and DeSoto Parishes are united in an effort to ask lawmakers to repeal a state law requiring the assignment of letter grades to public schools, according to this report from KTBS-TV in Shreveport.

Opponents fear the letter grades, required under a law adopted last year, will unfairly label schools as failing.

Perhaps the best understanding of the controversy was expressed in this comment posted under the KTBS story:

This is the state's way of pushing for charter schools. Under this system,
charter schools (as well as private schools) are exempt from accountability. As
we all know, the charter system is a joke. With this scoring system, Only magnet
schools will score a "B" or above. The best neighborhood schools would receive a
"C." Most schools would earn a "D" or "F" based on their current scores. Once
all the schools appear to be failing, the state is going to scream for charter
schools. I'm not an outsider saying this, I really do know what's going on and
we should be outraged.

BESE freezes MFP, crisis declared in school districts

With the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education bowing to Gov. Bobby Jindal's demand for a third frozen year of school funding, districts around the state may be starting to fall into crisis like a line of dominoes.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell wrote here, BESE agreed to forgo the traditional 2.75% growth factor in the Minimum Foundation Program, which funnels most state funds to local school boards.

BESE member Walter Lee, who is also superintendent of schools in DeSoto Parish, grimly predicted, "It is really going to be difficult for school systems."

The next day, the Livingston Parish School Board declared a "financial exigency" exists in the district, as a direct result of the BESE decision.

Advocate reporter Faimon Roberts put it this way: "The unanimous vote came after Superintendent Bill Spear told the board that by removing a 'growth factor' in its funding formula, the state had cut more than $7 million from Livingston Parish schools for the next three years, including the coming school year."

Teacher and staff layoffs are predicted, and a ripple effect from the cuts is feared. Board member Buddy Mincey Jr. said that the school system has been a driving factor in Livingston Parish's growth. "Strangling" education in Livingston could jeopardize the parish's future growth.

Just over the parish line in Tangipahoa, Superintendent of Schools Mark Kolwe told his board that their system, too, is in a state of exigency, and the board declared a financial crisis.

Hammond Daily Star reporter Bridgette Bonner wrote that layoffs are under consideration there, as well as the elimination of art and music programs, employee step raises, substitute teachers and other important education programs.

And as previously reported in EdLog, Gov. Jindal is recommending even more tax breaks for big business.

Jindal’s tax breaks another example of bad choices

This Louisiana Federation of Teachers press release is featured in Bayou Buzz.

(Baton Rouge – February 17, 2011) Governor Bobby Jindal’s announcement that he will seek even more tax breaks, adding to the more than 440 already in place, is an example of the poor choices that have contributed to Louisiana's current fiscal crisis, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

“Just one day after announcing that education funding will be frozen for another year, the governor now says that he wants to add to the more than $7 billion in tax loopholes that are starving the services Louisiana families depend on,” said Monaghan.

“We understand that leadership involves making choices,” Monaghan said. “However, we do not understand the wisdom governing the choice to freeze education funding one day and to choose to expand tax breaks the next.”

The LFT president said the governor and legislature should refrain from extending tax incentives or starting new ones until their effect on the economy and Louisiana communities is understood.

“Last year, the legislature passed bills asking for a thorough review of the 441 tax incentives currently offered by the State of Louisiana,” Monaghan said. “Lawmakers said they want to know how effective the incentives are. Do they attract jobs and grow the economy, or do they add to the bottom line of giant corporations at the expense of health care, education and the quality of life in our state?

“So far, there have been no hearings, and no reports filed on the effect these tax breaks have on our economy,” Monaghan said. “In his statement yesterday, the governor stated that he does not know how much this new round of tax loopholes will cost the state.

“But we already know some of the cost of the current policy. A number of school districts have already declared fiscal exigency, and school districts around the state have announced or are discussing layoffs of teachers and school employees. Access to health care is shrinking. Whole disciplines are being eliminated from our colleges and universities.”

More cuts to vital services and programs are anticipated this year. Lawmakers will enter the legislative session on April 25 facing a $1.6 billion shortfall.

“At the very least, if our teachers, our schools, and our children are asked by our Governor to do more with less, our governor should say ‘no’ to tax breaks are until we know if these breaks or helping or hurting the state.”

Connecting the tax loophole dots

On Tuesday, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced that he will freeze spending for K-12 education for a third straight year.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jindal announced yet more tax breaks for big business in the state.

Also this week, it was reported that teacher layoffs are "imminent" in Livingston Parish. They're not alone. School districts around the state considering layoffs reportedly include Jefferson, Tangipahoa, East Baton Rouge, Webster, St. Martin and others.

Connecting the dots, it's easy to see where our leaders' priorities lie and where their choices are taking us.

Better choices can be made. We don't have to provide even more tax loopholes without, as the governor admits, even knowing how much they will cost the state.

Federal government could also make some better choices

Louisiana apparently is not the only place suffering from the bad choices politicians can make.

According to this Education Week article by Alyson Klein, the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives is poised to adopt a budget that would strip $5 billion from education in the current fiscal year.

That's billion with a "B." Fortunately, President Obama is prepared to veto the bill.

Looks like we need to expand the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana campaign to Better Choices for a Better USA.

Is TAP a magic education bullet?

This article in Sunday's Advocate by reporter C.J. Futch ought to open a dialog about the value of TAP, a school improvement program created by disgraced financier Michael Milken's family foundation.

There's little doubt that scores have risen at the Ascension Parish schools spotlighted by the article. But are those improvements due solely to Milken's proprietary program, or are there elements of it that can be successfully implemented at any school?

As LFT President Steve Monaghan’ points out in the article, TAP is only as good as its administration. The program was a failure in Calcasieu Parish, for example, where it was ousted from schools because of complaints from educators.

What does TAP get right? Its system of imbedded professional development is spot on, and teachers work collaboratively to reinforce learning school wide. The program's use of master teachers and mentor teachers is also a positive. Teachers can assume more responsibility and earn higher salaries without leaving the classroom to become administrators.

It all comes at a cost, however. As the article points out, it costs an extra $350 to $400 per student to implement TAP. Thus far, the money has come from federal grants, but as those are phased out, it is expected that other funds - competitive grants or donations from local businesses - will take up the slack.

There is only so much corporate largesse, so the question is begged: is this a model that can truly be sustained and applied to all schools? Or will the first ones into the program siphon the available funds, leaving the rest at the bottom of a Ponzi-style pyramid?

While the embedded professional development has solid, research-based foundations, the aspect of the program earning the most attention is the system of bonuses paid to teachers whose students show improvement.

Research linking school improvement to financial incentives is scant to nonexistent, but the idea of bonuses appeals to free marketers and earns publicity for the program. Notice that he Advocate headline focuses on the bonuses, not on the professional development or collaboration.

Under the Milken plan, teachers don't start winning bonuses until the third year of TAP implementation. But scores at the Ascension schools started improving immediately, which seems to indicate that the bonuses alone can't account for the improvement.

In Ascension Parish, the article says, teachers have earned bonuses ranging from $350 to $5,000. How is the amount given to each teacher determined?

You can't find that out. The evaluation used to apportion bonuses is considered a TAP proprietary trade secret. Teachers in the program are not even allowed to discuss their bonuses with each other. If you want transparency, TAP is not for you.

Do we really want the evaluation of our schools and teachers to depend on a trade secret?

TAP supporters say their evaluation plan is so well designed that it is virtually impossible for a teacher to be unfairly evaluated, and that there is little need for due process protections that allow challenges to the awards.

In the real world, that seems hard to swallow.

In survey after survey, teachers say that bonus pay is not what is needed to improve student achievement. Better professional development, improved discipline, more parental involvement and less stress on standardized testing all rank higher when teachers are asked their preferences.

There is little doubt that some high-ranking state education officials hope that TAP will be the model chosen by Louisiana schools to boost student performance. That is a decision that needs thorough discussion and debate. All the information about TAP needs to be on the table before it is adopted wholesale in the state.

LFT President promotes Better Choices in Advocate letter

This has been a great week for the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana campaign. Check out Steve Monaghan’s letter to the editor in The Advocate.

Monaghan's letter cites two articles recently mentioned in EdLog, one by Marsha Shuler and one by Ted Griggs:

Reporter Marsha Shuler’s interview with House Speaker Jim Tucker revealed
this fact: The amount we allow as tax exemptions is almost equal to our general
fund revenue.

Speaker Tucker’s acknowledgement that lawmakers may have to look at tax
loopholes as part of the solution was a welcome, honest contribution to a very
necessary public dialogue.

On Saturday, Ted Griggs’ report on the absence of severance taxes from
the Haynesville shale wells reinforced our strong belief that Louisiana’s tax
exemption policies must be more thoroughly examined.

The Advocate articles addressed issues that Better Choices has been discussing for months.

This week, the Better Choices coalition began a series of round table discussions with community leaders. Wednesday in New Orleans, and Tuesday in Baton Rouge. Coming in the next few weeks are meetings in Alexandria, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Shreveport and Monroe.

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?

Haynesville shale: Louisiana can make better choices!

It's a story that was predicted by the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana Coalition: our state is missing out on many millions of dollars because of ill-conceived tax breaks granted to drillers profiting from the Haynesville shale bonanza.

In today's Advocate, reporter Ted Griggs exposes the near-scandalous fact that one of the richest gas finds in history will contribute almost nothing to a state that is facing a $1.6 billion shortfall in the coming legislative session.

Health care is going to suffer. Higher education will continue to lose professors, degree programs and research facilities. Roads and bridges will keep on crumbling. K-12 funding will suffer, and teachers will be fired (St. Martin Parish just announced that it is losing one teacher in each of its schools).

As Griggs reports, there are more than 800 wells in production in North Louisiana's Haynesville find, and most of them will contribute not one penny of severance taxes to the state.

Why? Because they are subject to a tax exemption for two years, and most of these short-lived wells play out within 18 months. There are huge profits for energy companies, but nothing for the state which is surrendering its mineral wealth.

Haynesville is just one example of hundreds of tax loopholes that cost the state more than $7 billion a year - almost as much as is collected for the state's general fund. While some tax breaks may benefit the people of Louisiana, others, like Haynesville, cost us dearly.

The Louisiana Federation of Teachers has been involved in this issue for months. In November, we participated with other Better Choices Coalition members in a press conference on the steps of the capitol, asking lawmakers to take a hard look at tax exemptions.

Later that month, at a convention themed Better Choices for a Better Louisiana, experts from the Louisiana Budget Project and LSU's Manship School of Mass Communication explained how Louisiana got into this mess, and what can be done about it.

We know we can do better. We know we can make better choices. Please visit the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana Coalition Web site to learn more.

RSD loses 180 computers

After three years in office, the Jindal administration admits that more than $23 million worth of state property has gone missing.

As this report from FOX8 investigative reporter Lee Zurik reveals, one chunk of that total was ripped from the state Recovery School District in New Orleans:

State records show on September 10, 2009, the Recovery School District
purchased 180 computers worth $746 each. About one year later, those same
records show all 180 computers are missing. They were purchased for $134,000.

Maybe the loss can help explain why the per-pupil expenditure in the RSD is nearly twice that of the state's other public schools.

Red tape act and class size

When advocates of Gov. Jindal's so-called Red Tape Reduction act say that larger class sizes are part of their school improvement agenda, they are plugging into a new national theme. These people share their bad ideas.

The latest to jump on the bigger-can-be-better bandwagon is the new Washington, D.C. school chancellor, Kaya Henderson. In an interview with the Washington Post, she admitted that increasing class size is on the table:

At the same time I know for sure when you have an excellent teacher in a
classroom -- and I've seen this -- that principals will put additional kids in a
classroom, up to 40. And if the teacher can handle those 40 kids they are better
served by that one highly effective teacher than splitting that class into two
classes of 20 [where] you can't guarantee are both are highly effective
teachers.

You'll hear the same twaddle in Louisiana, when those who want to educate our children on the cheap say that class size doesn't really matter if you have a highly effective teacher in the room. So let's load it up with 40 children.

The better solution is to have two classes of 20 children with highly effective teachers.

Louisiana has a state law that mandates smaller class sizes. The Red Tape Reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Act was written to help get around laws that govern public education in our state. It has very little to do with improving education, and it is in sync with a national agenda that is not necessarily in the best interests of our children, our schools or our professional educators.

House speaker considering better choices

The message of the Better Choices for a Better Louisiana campaign seems to be sinking in. Speaker of the House Jim Tucker is acknowledging that the $7.1 billion the state surrenders in the form of various tax breaks will be looked at in the upcoming legislative session.

According to this story by Advocate reporter Marsha Shuler, Tucker told the Louisiana Hospital Association that the state grants nearly as much in various exemptions as is actually collected for the general fund.

Unless the list of more than 440 exemptions is put into play, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to fill the expected $1.6 billion budget hole this spring.

That's old news to followers of the Better Choices campaign - it was last November 18 when the coalition held its press conference on the capitol steps. At that time, the coalition asked lawmakers to declare a moratorium on new tax exemptions and to take a close look at existing loopholes.

A lot more information about Better Choices is available. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers has set up a Better Choices for a Better Louisiana resource page, and the coalition has established its own Web site.

For true believers, facts don't matter

If you've ever tried to convince horoscope-believing friends that the alignment of stars and planets stars doesn't really determine the course of their lives, you can understand why it is so frustratingly difficult to have a meaningful conversation about charter schools.

Many well-meaning people have developed an almost religious faith that charter schools are just better than traditional public schools. No matter what the evidence says, it's hard to convince them otherwise.

So a new study from the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado probably won't change many minds, but it still bears a close look.

The study, conducted by Bruce D. Baker and Richard Ferris of Rutgers University, has some surprising conclusions about charter schools in New York City, one of the nation's largest charter school laboratories. The results challenge the conventional wisdom bandied by popular documentaries like "Waiting for Superman" and "The Lottery."

Most significantly, the study shows that charter schools on average do not out-perform traditional public schools in the city.

Beyond that, the study reveals that there is a wide disparity of resources provided to charter schools in New York. While some get almost no funds other than the base school allotment, some receive private donations that amount to $10,000 per pupil more than traditional public schools.

And yet, "there is little or no relationship between spending and test score outcomes after including appropriate controls. Some high-spending and some low-spending charters perform well, while others perform quite poorly."

The city in the United States with the most charter school experience is New Orleans. Wouldn't it be nice to see a similar study made of the Big Easy's charter schools?

Fifty-six schools earn High-Performing, High-Poverty distinction

The State Department of Education has announced that 56 schools in 30 Louisiana school districts have earned the High-Performing, High-Poverty distinction. Click here for the department's press release.

Lawyer says Filipino recruiter will appeal fine

The attorney for a recruiter charged with victimizing Filipino teachers in Louisiana says he will appeal an order demanding repayment of $1.8 million in improperly collected fees, according to this article by Advocate reporter Joe Gyan, Jr.

Last spring, Administrative law Judge Shelly Dick ruled that Universal Placement International and its owner, Lourdes "Lulu" Navarro illegally collected fees from about 360 Filipino teachers hired to work in Louisiana schools. That decision was part of a much larger investigation into Navarro's practices, which the teachers' union representatives likened to human trafficking. The Filipino teachers are represented by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers in the action.

Navarro has a history of violating the law - she has been convicted of defrauding a government agency in California and of money laundering in New Jersey.

Navarro's attorney, Murphy Foster I, appealed Judge Dick's decision. On December 30, District Judge Janice Clark of Baton Rouge upheld the original ruling. In a move already expected by Federation attorneys, Foster says he intends to appeal Judge Clark's ruling to the State Court of Appeal.

Your LFT Connection: February 2011

Dear colleague,

Just before Thanksgiving, delegates to the LFT’s annual convention heard news that offered some hope in a year that thus far had been dominated by gloomy reports about budget cuts that threaten our colleges, universities and K-12 schools.

Presentations from two experts gave us a new outlook on Louisiana’s budget crisis. They explained the root causes of the mess we are in, and offered suggestions for restoring fiscal sanity to the state.

Read more of the new Your LFT Connection from LFT President Steve Monaghan- please click here.

Testy exchanges over seized schools' performance

Schools that have been seized by the state are not performing up to expectations, and lawmakers want to know why.

That's the gist of the action at Wednesday's meeting of the joint House and Senate Education Committees, reported here by The Advocate's Will Sentell.

They got few answers from Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Penny Dastugue.

Both said that the schools taken by the state had been failing their obligations to students for years, but that wasn't what the senators and representatives were asking. They wanted to know why many schools, some operated by independent charters and some by the state Recovery School District, aren't faring any better under the new management.

In testy exchanges, Pastorek said that "dozens" of the 180-plus schools seized by the state have shown major improvements.

But with some 200 schools under consideration for seizure, lawmakers were seeking assurance that the department of education can guarantee improvement. They got no guarantees.

Misplaced optimism

While Gov. Jindal maintains that coming cuts to higher education will be lower than expected - in the 10% range, according to this article by Gannett reporter Mike Hasten - the effects of budget cuts on colleges and universities cannot be trivialized.

LSU Provost Jack Hamilton made that clear in a theatrical gesture at Monday's meeting of the Baton Rouge Press Club, standing next to 140 empty chairs. That's the number of faculty positions lost at the state's flagship university over the past two years.

As The Advocate's editorialist wrote:

The 140 faculty positions lost to the cuts represent more than 10 percent
of the university’s 1,200-member faculty. LSU’s foreign languages programs have been dramatically scaled back, making the campus much less competitive with its peers in the region. The LSU School of Music’s ability to offer scholarships
is also greatly diminished, hampering the school’s ability to attract the best
and the brightest.

More bad news came on Wednesday, when the Board of Regents announced that almost 460 college degree programs across Louisiana are about to be axed because of the budget crunch. Advocate reporter Jordan Blum covered the Regents' meeting for this story.

Yet the governor still refuses to consider any new revenues, maintaining that he is "optimistic that we can keep higher ed cuts below 10%."

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.

Injured teachers get school board attention

Thanks to the Calcasieu Federation of Teachers, educators in that parish may have less to fear from abusive students, according to this article by Sulphur Daily News reporter Vickie Peoples.

Federation President Jean Johnson and colleague Rick Kuykendall gave school board members the results of a survey showing that the system's Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program doesn't always protect teachers and school employees from student attacks.

The survey documented cases in which educators were injured by students who did not suffer immediate consequences from the school system. In one case, a student struck a teacher in the head with a rock. The teacher pressed charges and the student was arrested, but has not been expelled from school.

School board members said the survey revealed a "huge, alarming and shocking problem," and demanded that the superintendent and staff reformulate district discipline policies.

"Red Tape Act" amounts to an attack on teacher tenure

Officials of the state department of education let slip one of the real motives behind Gov. Jindal's Red Tape Reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Act at Wednesday's meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes for this article, BESE was discussing the governor's signature legislation from the last session, trying to figure out why no local school district has yet applied for a waiver of state law or policy.

Among the so-called "burdensome rules and laws" that "stifle student gain" are teacher tenure, class size, instructional time and curriculum.

As EdLog reported yesterday, the attack on teacher tenure is part of an an orchestrated, nationwide effort. We can add Louisiana to the list of states that have targeted teacher rights.

As noted in The Advocate's article, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers has filed suit to halt the Red Tape act. LFT strongly believes that the legislature has no constitutional right to cede its legislative obligations to bodies like BESE.

Jindal vows to protect TOPS

Gov. Jindal announced that he will seek a constitutional amendment to protect the very popular TOPS program, according to this article by Jordan Blum in The Advocate.

TOPS, the brainchild of the late oil magnate Patrick Taylor, is one of the most progressive education programs in the nation, promising free tuition at state colleges and universities to any student with slightly above average grades. The scholarship can also be applied at private schools, but is capped at the level of a state college.

States look to abolish teacher tenure

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

Efforts are underway in several states to eliminate teacher tenure. According to this article in the Christian Science Monitor, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is leading a pack of governors who want to abolish due process rights for teachers.

Other states mentioned in the article are Florida, Idaho, Illinois and Wyoming.

Opponents of teacher tenure say that it it too difficult to get rid of "bad teachers," and can find some extreme examples that they say prove their point.

But tenure serves two vital purposes in our schools, and those who want to abolish it just don't understand how crucial those purposes are.

To begin with, tenure guarantees a teacher's academic freedom. Without it, teachers can too easily fall victim to the political correctness of the day. There are just too many folks out there who would gladly yank a teacher's credentials for recommending the "wrong" reading material. It is a protection that serves without bias - those with small minds on the left, right or anywhere in between would love to restrict what teachers are allowed to say.

But even more importantly, tenure guarantees that teachers can't lose their livelihoods without just cause. Sometimes teachers are victims of administrative favoritism or unfair accusations, and they deserve a fair hearing. Our entire legal system is based on the concept of innocent until proven guilty. Does a teacher deserve less than that?

Opponents of tenure falsely claim that teachers in Louisiana "automatically" earn tenure after just three years. That discounts the facts that teachers must first obtain a degree, pass a difficult examination, earn certification and undergo three years of supervision. During that time, they may be dismissed for virtually any reason. The process is rigorous enough that about half of all teachers leave the profession in their first five years.

If, after all that, an unqualified person becomes tenured, it is the fault of administrators who did not perform their duties. And that is a mistake that can be corrected through a tenure hearing.

Jindal: Merge SUNO and UNO

WWL-AM in New Orleans reports that Gov. Bobby Jindal is recommending the merger of Southern University of New Orleans and the University of New Orleans.

The governor reportedly also suggests that the merged institution be removed from oversight by the Southern and LSU systems, and become part of the University of Louisiana system.

The state's Board of Regents is expected to come up with its own recommendation about the merger by March 1.

A comment in the WWL article by LSU System President John Lombardi suggests that LSU won't let go easily: "The LSU System remains firmly engaged in the support of UNO's mission, and will work closely with UNO, its many constituencies, and the Board of Regents on any proposals to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of this fine institution."

Jindal says he will propose company schools

Governor Jindal's legislative agenda will include an expansion of charter schools, one which will allow an unprecedented intrusion of the business community into the charter school movement, according to this article by Times-Picayune reporter Ed Anderson.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the governor said he wants a new law allowing businesses to house charter schools on their property, to stack charter school boards with representatives of the businesses, and to give preferred attendance to children of the business' employees.

Lawmakers attending the meeting said they had no advance notice of the plan, and thus far no one has seen the actual language that will be proposed by the governor.

It is difficult to take a position on the plan before a specific bill, with details, is introduced. Just a year ago, Gov. Jindal said that his signature legislation for 2010 would be a Red Tape Reduction Act, aimed at easing the paperwork burden on teachers. But when the actual bill was introduced, it dealt with allowing school boards to opt out of state education law and policy, with no mention of teachers and paperwork.

The 2011 legislative session is supposed to be dedicated to fiscal issues, but each lawmaker is allowed to introduce up to five non-fiscal bills. The governor has no lack of allies who will be willing to bring his plan before the session.

LFT representatives on retirement board

From left, TRSL College Representative Bob Lawyer, Director Maureen Westgard, Board Chair Anne H. Baker, District 1 Representative Joe Potts.

At its first meeting of the New Year, the Louisiana Teachers Retirement System Board of Supervisors welcomed two new members with strong ties to the Louisiana Federation of Teachers.

Joe Potts, president emeritus of the Jefferson Federation of Teachers and executive vice president of LFT, took his oath of office as the representative of District 1, which comprises Ascension, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, and St. John parishes.

Robert Lawyer, a professor at Delgado College and treasurer of the United Federation of College Teachers, was sworn in as the elected representative of higher education members of the retirement system.

Both Lawyer and Potts were elected last fall. Their terms run until December 31, 2014. The two men are a welcome addition to the board. Attacks on teacher retirement have emerged in recent legislative sessions, and are expected to surface again when lawmakers return to Baton Rouge in April. Both Potts and Lawyer will be reliable allies in the fight to preserve the rights and benefits of retired teachers and school employees.

Columnist: our schools are better than their perception

Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson is no left-winger, and is not pro-teacher union. Which is why this column is so important.

While liberals, who formerly could be counted on to support public education, are indulging in an orgy of school bashing (witness documentaries like "Waiting for Superman" and "The Lottery"), Samuelson points out that schools alone can't be blamed or lauded for a society's flaws and successes.

"(E)conomic competitiveness depends on more than good schools, which are important but not decisive," he writes. "To take an obvious example: The Japanese have high test scores, but Japan's economy languishes."

Samuelson then goes all heretical, confounding the conventional wisdom by stating that our public schools are better than they are perceived to be. And he backs it up with research.

"American schools are better than they're commonly portrayed," writes Samuelson. "We now have a massive study of the reading abilities of 15-year-olds (roughly 10th-graders) in 65 systems worldwide showing that U.S. schools compare favorably with their foreign counterparts.

"U.S. schools do about as well as the best systems elsewhere in educating similar students," he concludes.

Not that our schools can't be improved, or that we too often fail those who would best profit by a good education. But Samuelson's column is a bracing reminder that we in public education cannot be blamed for all of society's ills, nor can we be expected to correct all of them.

LFT staffers attend planning meeting

AFT President Randi Weingarten

Braving bitter cold and dodging snow-challenged airports, members of the LFT staff are in Washington, D.C. this weekend, making plans to deal with attacks on public education that are cropping up across the United States.

In an opening session to the three-day meeting, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten laid out the challenges faced by teachers and their unions.

"We're not giving up," Weingarten told some 200 union activists from around the country. "We need to engage in constructive problem solving using all the means and power at our disposal."

The problems, she said, are big and very real. Attacks are mounting on teacher and school employee pensions and benefits, tenure and salary schedules. Especially after the last elections, conservative politicians are trying to privatize, voucherize and charterize schools in numerous states.

Louisiana has seen its share of attacks on public schools and the professionals who dedicate their lives to our children, LFT President Steve Monaghan said.

Monaghan is attending the conference, along with Legislative Director Alison Ocmand, Senior Organizer Mona Icamena, Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel coordinator Chrisandra Lee and Public Relations Director Les Landon.

Monaghan said the focus of the meeting is on forging coalitions that can build support for our schools in a political climate that is often unfriendly to public education.

Monaghan said teachers and school employees spend their professional careers building a better future for our children, and that we owe it to them to make sure they have decent salaries, adequate benefits and a pension that allows them to have a comfortable retirement after a lifetime of service.

Louisiana's 2011 regular legislative session will begin on April 25, and will close on June 23.















LFT Legislative Director Alison Ocmand, left, LFT President Steve Monaghan and AFT President Randi Weingarten.











LFT Legislative Director Alison Ocmand, left, President Steve Monaghan, PSRP Coordinator Chrisandra Lee and Senior Organizer Mona Icamena.

New board will decide Jefferson contract’s fate

Because the outgoing Jefferson Parish School Board could not convene a quorum before the end of 2010, the fate of a collective bargaining agreement with the parish’s 3,000 school support staff rests with a newly elected board. The issue could be decided at a meeting scheduled for January 6 at 5:00 P.M.

Employee hopes ran high in early December, when Board President Gene Katsanis and Member Cedric Floyd led an effort to award collective bargaining rights to unions representing the employees. Despite opposition and legal challenges from some in the business community, the board voted to allow bargaining with the employees.

The Jefferson Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union Local 21 negotiated contracts on behalf of employees, who then ratified the contracts. The former board missed its opportunity to ratify in the week between Christmas and New Years, however, leaving the issue for the new board to decide.

Katsanis was one of five board members defeated for re-election in November; Floyd will retain his seat.

JFT President Meladie Munch said that she intends to pursue ratification with the new board.
“Everything is in place for employees to have a contract,” Munch said. “We are waiting for the new board to place the item on the meeting agenda. We hope the board will agree to this contract, which has already been ratified by employees.

“It is truly an issue of respect and dignity for these members of the education family,” Munch said. “Jefferson Parish support employees have the lowest salaries in the New Orleans area, and are $2,000 below the state average."

History you can dance to

What happens when a history teacher and a flash animation teacher team up to produce music parodies that inform and amuse with a beat you can dance to?

Find the answer on YouTube's historyteachers Channel, where out can see the products of Amy Burvall and Herb Mahelona's collaboration.

In dozens of videos, the pair tell Cleopatra's story by way of "Fergilicious" by Fergie, recount the French Revolution through the lens of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" and, for lovers of rock classics, explain the greatness of Alexander via The Knack's "My Sharona."

And if you've ever been stirred by Shakespeare's "Band of Brothers" speech in Henry V, you'll love their retelling of the Battle of Agincourt as imagined through Marianne Faithful's "As Tears Go By."

Washington Post blogger Valerie Strauss tells the story of the duo, and the effect their collaboration has on students, here.

Good cop, bad cop in the Jindal house

You have to admire the public relations machine behind the Jindal administration. Remember how the governor polished his conservative creds by knocking the federal stimulus program while at the same time building local support with staged photo ops featuring huge cardboard checks backed by stimulus dollars?

The same strategy is now at work on the education front. First Lady Supriya Jindal is featured in The Advocate for her initiative stressing technology in public schools. As reported by Michelle Millhollon in this story, Mrs. Jindal's admirable objective is the installation of computerized white boards to replace chalk boards in elementary schools.

Thus far, the article says, the First Lady's educational foundation has placed the $6,000 technology in about 160 classrooms across the state, at a cost of about $960,000. The very ambitious goal, Millhollon writes, is to wire up 4,000 classrooms.

That would cost some $24 million, to be raised by Mrs. Jindal's foundation. In comparison, the governor's frenetic nationwide quest for campaign funds has raised about $8 million over the past few years, making it seem unlikely that the 4,000 classroom goal is reachable during Gov. Jindal's tenure.

But the airy promise held out by one hand has already been trumped by the stark reality clenched in another: Gov. Jindal's budget cuts have led to a $30 million decrease in the Department of Education budget - the part of the budget dedicated to classroom technology.

And while the distaff side of the Jindal household upholds the "support our schools" banner, it looks like deep cuts might be on the horizon in the governor's budget.

That's the impression one gets from this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

Ironically posted in the same edition as the Supriya Jindal article, this one quotes Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Penny Dastugue as saying that it will take a fight to keep education funded at the same frozen level as the past two years.

Despite rising costs and new mandates on local school boards, the Minimum Foundation Program has not received the usual 2.75% inflation factor, much less any new funding, in the last two fiscal years.

“I think we will have to fight (to keep the level funding),” Dastugue told Sentell. “I don’t know what the Legislature wants.”

Which is sort of a disingenuous comment. The legislature is only one of the three players to determine MFP funding. Gov. Jindal, whose executive budget plan will be released in a couple of months, will say how much he expects to spend on education next year.

Dastugue's own BESE board has a crucial role to play - it is BESE's responsibility to decide how much money should be in the MFP in the first place. BESE has not fought very hard for the MFP over the past couple of years, and don't expect the board to buck the governor this time, either. Dastugue is one of Jindal's three appointments to BESE.

The legislature does have to approve funding for the MFP, so it is disappointing that Dastugue says she has no idea what lawmakers have in mind. Shouldn't they be communicating about something this important?

So as BESE dithers while education burns, the governor's PR machine grinds relentlessly on, expertly positioning him for a brighter future than our state can anticipate.

Ravitch versus the corporatists

In this Washington Post interview with Valerie Strauss, education historian Diane Ravitch takes on billionaire Bill Gates' corporatist approach to education reform.

It's an important exchange of ideas. Gates is representative of a group that apparently wants to support public education, and has the appropriate liberal credentials, yet winds up siding with right wingers whose goal is the privatization of our schools. It's an area explored by Strauss in an October column discussed in EdLog.

In her interview with Strauss, Ravitch demolishes several of Gates' canards about public education, teachers and their unions.

Answering the argument that opposing corporate reform is tantamount to endorsing the status quo, Ravitch succinctly criticizes the business model's bean counting approach:

"I don't hear any of the corporate reformers expressing concern about the
way standardized testing narrows the curriculum, the way it rewards convergent
thinking and punishes divergent thinking, the way it stamps out creativity and
originality. I don't hear any of them worried that a generation will grow up
ignorant of history and the workings of government. I don't hear any of them
putting up $100 million to make sure that every child has the chance to learn to
play a musical instrument. All I hear from them is a demand for higher test
scores and a demand to tie teachers' evaluations to those test scores. That is
not going to improve education."

Ravitch is an important truth-teller and diagnostician. The real problem with so-called "failing schools" lies in the growing gap between rich and poor in American society:

The single biggest correlate with low academic achievement (contrary
to the film Waiting for Superman) is poverty. Children who grow up in poverty
get less medical care. worse nutrition, less exposure to knowledge and
vocabulary, and are more likely to be exposed to childhood diseases, violence,
drugs, and abuse. They are more likely to have relatives who are incarcerated.
They are more likely to live in economic insecurity, not knowing if there is
enough money for a winter coat or food or housing. This affects their academic
performance. They tend to have lower attendance and to be sick more than
children whose parents are well-off.

Survey puts educational blame where it belongs

"Blaming teachers for low test scores, poor graduation rates and the other ills of American schools has been popular lately, but a new survey wags a finger closer to home."

That's the opening line of an Associated Press story covering the AP-Stanford Poll on Education, and it has some results that teachers may find surprising.

Not the one that says 68 percent of Americans believe parents are more to blame for educational failure than teachers, their unions or school boards - most teachers already know that. A majority of those surveyed also said that the education in their local public schools is either excellent or good - most teachers already know that, as well.

And while many believe that the U.S. is falling behind other countries educationally, "a majority of parents see improvement in the system since they were in school: 55 percent believe their children are getting a better education than they did, and three-quarters rate the quality of education at their child's school as excellent or good. Most say their child's school is doing a good job preparing students for college, the work force and life as an adult."

Again, most teachers probably know that education is really improving, mainly because research is better and more targeted, and serious efforts are underway to improve both professional development for those in the classroom, and teacher education for those planning to enter the profession.

The result that may surprise teachers is in the ideological breakdown of respondents. Those who self-identify as conservative are much more likely to blame parents for educational shortfalls than teachers.

Why is that surprising? Because among the political classes, it's been the conservatives who hammer hardest at so-called "bad teachers," and it is legislative right-wingers who have been most likely to introduce bills seen by teachers as punitive.

Although that has shifted somewhat in the very recent past. Propagandized documentaries like Waiting for Superman and The Lottery, which lean heavily on teachers and unions as villains for poor performance in impoverished urban school districts, were financed and produced by liberals.

To see the full results of the AP-Stanford poll, click here.

Like a junkie selling the radio and televsion for his next fix...

That's how Treasurer John Kennedy describes Governor Bobby Jindal's scheme to sell of state property in this column by Gannett reporter Mike Hasten.

School letter grades are "messy and confusing"

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education passed a new rule assigning letter grades, from A+ to F-, to all Louisiana schools, beginning next October. Supporters said it would make it easier for parents to understand how successful their schools are.

But what will a single letter grade tell you about a school? When little Johnny brings home a report card, he has a grade for each of his subjects, not one lone mark to sum up his whole educational experience.

As Associated Press reporter Melinda Deslatte writes here, the process for assigning letter grades to schools will be "messy and confusing," not the simple process described by BESE President Penny Dastuge, who defended the new system by saying, "People can relate to grades."

Well, yes. But a grade is a symbol with a deep context, and unless people understand everything that the symbol stands for, it can be very misleading.

In her column, Deslatte raises the issues that the legislature and Gov. Jindal should have considered before passing a law requiring the letter grades:

• Should a school be rewarded for how much it improved its students' achievement rates and given a better grade even if its overall results still show a large percentage of students performing below their grade level and the state's standards?
• Is it fair for a school in a poor neighborhood where many students don't have parental support and don't get basic reading training before they enter school be graded against a school in a wealthier neighborhood where more students start off with greater advantages?
• If you curve the system, will it really provide any useful information to parents and will it meet the intent of what lawmakers and the governor wanted out of the grading scale?
• Does a letter grading system in some cases discount the strides a school is making or the hard work its teachers are doing? Could it damage morale and make it more harder for a lower-graded school to attract strong teachers and education leaders to help improve it?

In their haste to show that they are committed to anything that can be labeled "school reform," our leaders have saddled schools with yet another bureaucratic layer that won't improve anything, but could contribute to unfair perceptions of public education.

Which just might have been the goal in the first place.

Judge derails anti-bargaining effort in Jefferson Parish

Efforts to derail the collective bargaining agreement for school employees in Jefferson Parish were thwarted on Friday when a district judge refused to grant a restraining order that would have halt the process.

More than 3,000 paraprofessionals and school related personnel in the parish won the right to negotiate a contract last Wednesday, when the Jefferson Parish School Board voted 5-3 to grant bargaining rights to the Jefferson Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union Local 21. The board agreed to negotiate with the unions after JFT and SEIU presented petitions signed by an overwhelming number of employees asking for collective bargaining.

On Friday, an anti-union cabal comprising Frank Morales, Glen W. Hayes, Sr., incoming school board member Glenn W. Hayes, Jr., The Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and The Jefferson Business Council asked District Judge Patrick McCabe for a Temporary restraining Order that would have prohibited the school board from recognizing JFT and SEIU are bargaining representatives for the employees.

To read more, please click here.

St. Martin educators charter a new Federation chapter

The St. Martin Federation of Teachers and School Employees received its charter at the 46th annual Louisiana Federation of Teachers convention on November 22 in Lake Charles.

Shown at the ceremony are, from left, American Federation of Teachers Regional Director Al Squire, St. MFT/SE Secretary-Treasurer Jonathan Royer, St. MFT/SE Vice President April Benoit and LFT President Steve Monaghan.

Efforts to organize the St. Martin Federation began small, with 16 potential members meeting in December of 2008. That nucleus grew into the new chapter’s 360 members, and the St. Martin Federation is already the largest organization for teachers and school employees in St. Martin Parish. Membership in the Federation is limited to teachers and school employees; administrators and others who supervise or evaluate educators are ineligible.

Officers of the St. Martin Federation of Teachers and School Employees are President Latonia Cretian, Vice President April Benoit and Secretary-Treasurer Jonathan Royer.

The new union local is affiliated with the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. With more than 20,000 members in 36 local chapters around the state, LFT is the largest teacher and school employee organization in the state. Nationally, the St. Martin Federation is affiliated with the 1.5 million member American Federation of Teachers.

Jindal kicks the can down the road

Governor Bobby Jindal told a group of lawmakers on Thursday that he may propose selling off state assets and privatizing some services as a stopgap measure to deal with a looming $1.6 billion budget shortfall next year.

This is the same Gov. Jindal who used to say that it is a bad idea to use one-time funds to pay for recurring costs, but that is exactly what he is proposing. Skeptics say the governor is just kicking the can down the road, using whatever desperate measures he can conjure to keep the state afloat long enough for him to make his next job move.

Of particular concern is the idea of privatizing the PPO portion of the Office of State Group Benefits employee health plan. Many school districts use Office of Group Benefits to provide health insurance to their employees. Selling off employee benefits might raise some fast cash to further the governor's political ambitions, but could put the future health care of teachers and school employees at risk.

Jindal's new scheme was widely covered in the state's news media. Michelle Millhollon's story in The Advocate is here; Mike Hasten covered it for the Gannett chain here, and Jan Moller wrote it up for the Times Picayune here.

This Associated Press story in Gambit says that senators are already expressing concern over the governor's idea to sell state penal institutions: "Gov. Bobby Jindal’s idea to sell state property to offset budget gaps drew complaints Friday from state senators who said it doesn’t make sense to generate short-term cash relief for long-term money woes."

Science wins textbook debate

The great textbook debate is over, at least for this year, and science won.

This story from the National Center for Science education sums it all up as well as can be done, with a quote comparing religious opponents of Darwin's theory of evolution to Holocaust deniers:

"To suggest we need to teach both sides is like saying we should be
teaching the opinion that the earth is flat because there are some people who
believe the earth is flat and they claim they have evidence the earth is flat,
so we should give equal time to these people. Or we should give equal time to
people who say there was no Holocaust. ... It’s an attempt to make it seem like
there are two sides that have similar weight when in fact that isn’t the case at
all.”

Jefferson Parish school employees win bargaining rights

Jefferson Federation of Teachers President Meladie Munch presents petitions signed by thousands of school employees asking for the right to bargain a contract with the Jefferson Parish School Board.





In a historic vote Wednesday night, the Jefferson Parish School Board granted collective bargaining rights to the district’s 3,000 paraprofessionals and school related personnel. The 5-3 vote marked the greatest expansion of bargaining rights in the parish since teachers won a collective bargaining agreement in 1977.

The board vote marked the climax of a campaign by the Jefferson Federation of Teachers and the Service Employees International Union Local 21 to win dignity and respect for school board employees. By gathering an overwhelming number of employee signatures on petitions, the unions convinced the board to grant the long-sought prize.

“This is a great victory for our support employees,” said JFT President Meladie Munch. “This opportunity will provide support employees the long needed dignity and respect that they deserve. These employees work hard and are essential to the success of our school system. We are excited to have the opportunity to represent school employees and help them have a voice in our school system.”


According to the board vote, JFT will negotiate on behalf of paraprofessionals, clerical employees and school crossing guards. SEIU will represent transportation workers, custodial and maintenance employees and child nutrition workers.


While Wednesday’s vote was a crucial step toward collective bargaining for the employees, the process is not over yet. Contracts must be negotiated and ratified by employees and the school board. Both sides are hopeful that the process can be completed this month, making it a great Christmas present for school employees in Jefferson Parish.

Penny Dastugue's bag of bromides

Newly-elected Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Penny Dastugue dug deep into the right-wing bag of bromides for her appearance before the Press Club of Baton Rouge on Monday.

Reporter Will Sentell of The Advocate picked up on her desire for radical change in this article, but did not go into the details of her agenda.

For teachers and school employees who may be curious about what the Dastugue era will mean for public education, here are a few clues.

As far as the budget is concerned Dastugue said she wants to "tackle inefficiencies and impose fiscal discipline" on our schools. She warned against allowing local school systems to do the discipline, however, noting that districts "do more harm than good" when left to their own cost-cutting devices.

Dastugue said she's fairly sure that once again there will be no increase in the Minimum Foundation Program formula, but was vague about whether or not Gov. Jindal will impose cuts on the school formula (as one of Jindal's three appointees to the board, will she buck cuts if they come?).

As far as "reform" is concerned, she stuck to the predictable conservative formula. That means we can look forward to attacks on teacher tenure, battery pay, extended sick leave, retirement benefits and salary increments for advanced degrees and experience in the classroom - at least those are the ones she mentioned by name.

She followed the strict conservative line in calling for "student based budgeting," which is thought by true believers to empower individual schools by giving principals almost complete control over the budget.

Dastugue's timing was unfortunate, however, coming just a few days after every principal in Livingston Parish - no liberal bastion, that - signed a letter opposing student based budgeting.

As Advocate reporter Faimon A. Roberts tells it here, the principals believe the scheme "would divert the current predominant focus on classroom instruction and put it on school finances instead."

According to the article, school leaders in Livingston Parish believe that "giving principals the responsibility of determining salaries and making other financial arrangements would harm the quality of the education at their respective schools."

On Monday, Dastugue made it obvious that lines are being drawn. She represents the pro-Jindal faction on BESE, which has been balanced by a succession of presidents who did not always kowtow to the governor. Pundits will be watching closely to see how far to the right her election tips that scale.

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.”

Avoiding the ideological divide

When former Florida governor and presidential aspirant Jeb Bush convened his annual Foundation for Excellence in Education summit in Washington, D.C. , ideological fault lines trumped education reform. The evidence is in this article by Tom Marshall in the St. Pertersburg Times.

In part, the line fell along a pro- and anti- teacher union divide. As one of Bush's Florida colleagues put it, "There is no way in our state right now that the dadgum unions are going to agree with this kind of stuff. So you either bring them to the table and tell them what you're going to do, or you run over them."

The speaker, State Sen. John Thrasher, was the author of a "reform" bill that was universally despised by teachers and was ultimately vetoed by Bush's successor.

His comment might be great for red-meat conservatives, but the more reasonable tone was struck by an actual educator, Hillsborough superintendent MaryEllen Elia, who said of her district's new teacher evaluation plan, "This entire plan was developed with our teachers union. I can tell you that we work very hard and very collaboratively with our teachers."

It is, of course, better to work collaboratively with teachers and their unions than to try to "run over them." That's a lesson already learned in Louisiana, which is in the midst of an experiment with value-added teacher evaluations.

This EdLog post from last May, followed by this one, demonstrates how lawmakers and the union can work together if they are willing to ignore the ideologues and look for better solutions to real problems.

Jindal may cut K-12 funding

Gov. Bobby Jindal is so in thrall to his "no taxes" fetish that he's now admitting there could well be cuts to K-12 education next year.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, the governor told a room full of "education leaders" (Board of Elementary and Secondary Education members and legislators, but no representatives of classroom teachers) that next year's budget, with its anticipated $1.6 billion shortfall, that budget cuts could well be on the table when the legislature convenes in April.

The governor repeated his oft-stated prevarication that there have been no cuts to K-12 education during his administration. Unless, of course, you're counting his veto of funding for national certification stipends, or his reduction of funds for private and religious school transportation. Those costs must now be borne by local school boards.

And while funding for public education's Minimum Foundation Program has remained level, costs of retirement, health insurance and other expenses have risen dramatically. As far as local school systems are concerned, that, too, is a cut.

Monaghan tells convention: "Better choices for a Better Louisiana!"

Addressing some 200 delegates to the 46th annual Louisiana Federation of Teachers convention in Lake Charles on November 22, LFT President Steve Monaghan called upon Gov. Bobby Jindal and the state legislature to make “better choices for a better Louisiana.”

In his State of the Union address, Monaghan said that much of the financial crisis facing the state was caused by decisions made over the past few years. Unless better choices are made, he said, the state faces a bleak future.

“If we don’t stand up and demand other choices, the governor is telling you that the future is less,” Monaghan said. “It is not sustainable. Your retirement is not sustainable. Your way of life is not sustainable. And if yours isn’t, then those who are coming behind you have no chance.

“You owe it to them to provide the same quality of life,” he said. You have a civil, moral and cosmic responsibility to do that.”

To read more, please click here.