Jindal's vouchers deny real choice to parents

The hypocrisy of Gov. Bobby Jindal's scheme to push vouchers on the taxpayers of Louisiana was revealed when he admitted that he has no plan to hold private and religious schools to the same standard as public schools.

The governor has repeatedly asserted that his aim in spending public education dollars on private and religious school tuition is to give parents more and better choices for their children.

If that were a true statement, then Gov. Jindal would want schools that accept vouchers to allow a fair comparison with their public counterparts. Students in those schools would be tested, teachers would be evaluated, schools would receive School Performance Scores and letter grades.

But as Gannett reporter Mike Hasten writes here, Gov. Jindal will refuse to allow parents access to the information they need to make an informed choice.

That shocking revelation came after Indiana Superintendent of Education Tony Bennett told a crowd in Baton Rouge that his state's voucher system requires all schools to submit to the state's accountability program and test every student.

Asked if our governor intends to follow suit in Louisiana, "Jindal said he believes 'parents are the best accountability program' and if they are not satisfied with the education their children receive, they can pull them from private schools."

Louisiana's Catholic schools, the primary recipients of voucher funds, have opposed any effort to require state accountability in return for accepting taxpayer dollars.

In recent days, the governor has harshly condemned critics who point out that his scheme does not give parents the information they need to make an informed choice. His overheated rhetoric is intended to hide this giant flaw in his education agenda.

Letter writer gets it right

Looks like the word is getting out on Gov. Jindal's sham "education reform" scheme. It all sounded good when the governor was a candidate last fall, and made only vague references to a bold reform agenda.

Now that details are emerging, it doesn't look so good. Voters might be starting to question the essence of a plan that relies so heavily on publicly funded vouchers for private and religious schools, radically expanding charter schools without sufficient accountability, and attacking teachers.

This letter to the editor of The Advocate hits a nerve:

The purpose of reforming education is to lower education inequity by
providing every student the same, high quality, and affordable education. Gov.
Bobby Jindal has
worked to do the exact opposite by freezing per-student aid to public schools
for three years. Now his “education reform” plan will pretty much further hurt
the public school system by offering vouchers for private schools.

Who's the job creator?

Tell Gov. Jindal that he's wrong about teachers and our schools!

Please click here to sign the petition

This year, Governor Bobby Jindal released his plans for an education agenda that will:

• Destroy the teacher salary schedule


• Endanger tenure and due process rights


• Radically expand vouchers for private and religious schools


• Impose even more state control over local school districts

The governor’s overreaching, dangerous agenda threatens our students, our schools and our profession.

We must have the courage to oppose the governor’s radical agenda, and the wisdom and leadership to provide common-sense alternatives to his destructive schemes.

It’s time for action! Take the first step and sign the LFT petition asking Governor Jindal to tone down the rhetoric. Ask him to work with us and build public schools that empower educators, provide the resources that our children deserve, and provide unlimited opportunities for the future.

Please click here to sign the petition

Weasel words leading the voucher charge

In most surveys, majorities of citizens don't like the idea of public funds being used to pay for tuition at private and religious schools.

Most people understand that vouchers strip funds from public education. They know that those schools are able to pick and choose their students, and that most public schools must accept all who appear at the door.

They know that private and religious schools are not accountable to the public, do not release test scores, and are not carefully monitored by state agencies.

So how does a governor who wants the state to pay for private or religious schooling for hundreds of thousands of children go about changing the public attitude about vouchers?

The first step is to change the name. It's no longer a voucher. Now it's an "opportunity scholarship."

Associated Press reporter Kevin McGill talks about the "weasel words" that cynical politicians use to distort the meaning of things in this column.

See Steve Monaghan on LPB's "The State We're In"

Louisiana Public Broadcasting Reporter Sue Lincoln has interviewed LFT President Steve Monaghan for two episodes of her program, “Louisiana – The State We’re In.”
Part one, “Jindal Tackles Teacher Tenure,” will air tonight at 7:00 P.M. on Louisiana Public Broadcasting stations.

If you don’t have access to an LPB station, the show will be available online at the www.lpb.org Web site by Saturday morning, under the “News” category.

The second episode, which will cover charter schools and vouchers, will air next Friday at 7:00 P.M., and will appear online the next morning.

Listen to LFT President Steve Monaghan and new State Supt. John White

Radio host Jim Engster had both Steve Monaghan and new State Superintendent of Education John White on his show yesterday. You can listen to a podcast of the show by visiting this Web site:
http://wrkf.org/multimedia/index.php?id=1
and clicking on “The Jim Engster Show 01-19-12, Jerry Stovall, John White, Steve Monaghan

Jindal's plan: Controversial, unjust and insulting

Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan has strong words for Governor Bobby Jindal's newly released education agenda.

In a special edition of Your LFT Connection, Monaghan writes:

On January 17, the governor unveiled his plan in a speech to the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Unfortunately, the governor chose his words very poorly as he framed his controversial agenda.

We had hoped that the governor would identify areas where consensus among stakeholders could emerge in the best interests of children and all citizens. There are more than 30 policy initiatives outlined in the governor’s press material, a barrage of ideas that will have to be carefully sorted when lawmakers come into session on March 12.

To find out more about the LFT's reaction to Gov. Jindal's education agenda, please click here.

Newspaper: Jindal provoking "mother of all legislative battles"

The Lafayette Advertiser correctly identified the fight that Gov. Jindal has picked with his 30-some-odd point education "reform" agenda.

How will lawmakers react when they discover that the governor would like to pay for nearly 400,000 Louisiana students to attend private and religious schools?

As The Advertiser puts it,

Exactly how many slots in private schools would have to be opened to
accommodate so many eligible students? If new private schools are rushed toward
opening to meet the new demand, who ensures that they're of adequate quality?
How do school systems provide transportation? Or should they? Should disabled
students be eligible for more valuable vouchers because their needs cost more to
meet? If not, will they get left behind? What if choice results in a
re-segregation of publicly financed education in violation of consent decrees
developed painstakingly over decades?

Is a Value Added teacher evaluation good for Louisiana?

Politicians believe the Value Added Model is right for Louisiana teachers. LFT isn't so sure.

Beginning in 2012-13, Louisiana teachers will be evaluated using a new instrument that incorporates what is known as a Value Added Model. The VAM makes judgments about a teacher’s performance based on student growth as measured by standardized tests.

From the beginning, LFT opposed passage of the bill that created the Value Added Model for teacher evaluation. But the bill had strong support from leaders as diverse as President Obama, Governor Jindal, Senators Landrieu and Vitter, the State Superintendent of Education, the BESE Board and the House and Senate Education Committees.

Aware of the strength of VAM’s support, LFT worked with lawmakers to improve the bill as much as possible, even as we continued to oppose its passage.

Some leaders in Baton Rouge want you to believe their new evaluation scheme is fail-safe. To find out why we disagree, and to learn much more about the Value Added model, please visit this Web page.

Tone of Jindal’s speech uneven, in part offensive, teachers say

(Baton Rouge – January 17, 2012) In a lengthy speech before members of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Governor Bobby Jindal unveiled what he has characterized as his bold plan for public education. The governor outlined a broad agenda divided into categories including teachers, parents, school officials and early childhood education.
As expected, the long list of ideas included a significant number of controversial initiatives.

However, it was the governor’s word choice that proved most surprising and that many educators may find offensive.

“It is unfortunate that the governor chose to frame his agenda in a way that demeans teachers,” Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said after reading the governors’ prepared comments.

“On one hand the governor acknowledged teachers as the backbone of education and urged that teachers be celebrated and appreciated. However, just moments later he inaccurately and unfairly asserted to this audience of influential business leaders that teachers “are given lifetime job protection…and short of selling drugs in the workplace or beating up” their students, teachers couldn’t be fired.

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

Teachers vote to unionize charter school

The Board of Directors at Khepera Charter School and the year-old bargaining unit representing its teachers ratified their first contract Monday. The contract establishes a salary scale and regularizes procedures for labor-management communications and teacher evaluation.

Khepera is a K-8 African-centered academy in West Mount Airy that opened in 2004.
The teachers voted last June to be represented by the Alliance of Charter Schools and Employees, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania.

To read more, please click here.

BESE appoints John White as superintendent

(Baton Rouge- January 11, 2012) As expected, John White was appointed State Superintendent of Education today by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Nine members voted to support Gov. Jindal’s hand-picked candidate, while District 3 Member Lottie Beebe voted “no” and District 8 Member Carolyn Hill abstained. Reportedly, both were under heavy political pressure to support the governor’s choice.

The motion to hire White was made by District 6 BESE member Chas Roemer, who also asked that the board waive the requirements that a candidate would normally be expected to meet for the position.

Beebe objected, saying “Credentials and experience do matter. The governor's nominee lacks a great deal of both in my opinion."Beebe introduced a substitute motion, calling for a nationwide search for a qualified candidate to be superintendent. She was unable to muster a second for her motion, however.

To read more, please click here.

Your LFT Connection - January 2012

Dear Colleague,

Just before Christmas, Governor Jindal invited the Federation, legislative leaders and other stakeholders to have a conversation about education. During this more than two hour long meeting, the governor listened politely to all comments and repeated his promise to continue meeting and keep listening as he prepares his “bold plan” for education.

The governor did not did reveal specific initiatives or any details; he said he will unveil his plan sometime later in January.

However, the governor’s public statements during and following the December meeting give us a sense of what he may mean by a “bold plan for education.” He has consistently stressed the following overarching themes:

To read more of Your LFT Connection, please click here.

Advocate, LFT agree on "Haynesville Bust"

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

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

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

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

It was not unexpected, said Monaghan:

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

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

Post-holiday catch up edition

Important things happened while teachers and school employees were on holiday for Christmas and New Year's. Here are a few items that you may have missed during the celebrations.

Education reform defined: Gannett reporter Mike Hasten wrote this column, in which he asked an important question about the meaning of "education reform."

Here's the takeaway from the column:

But one man's view of reform is another's view of harming public schools and another's view of harming
teachers.
If reform is just creating more charter schools and getting rid of
teacher tenure, it's not going to have the backing of those that have to
implement it — public school systems across the state.
It's got to be much
more than that.

Governor meets with teachers (but offers no clues): Governor Bobby Jindal finally had his first meeting with teacher unions during the holidays. The governor listened politely, but did not say what will be in his education agenda, which he plans to announce later in January.

Also in the room were an assortment of politicians and, most notably, a handful of parents whose children attend religious schools in New Orleans, with tuition paid by state vouchers.

That led LFT President Steve Monaghan to wonder if the governor plans to include expanded vouchers in his plan.

“The major concern is that, in a tight financial construct, which we know we are going to be in, the dollars that will be siphoned away from those schools left behind will be significant,” Monaghan told Advocate reporter Will Sentell for this article.

Voucher concerns confirmed: Worries that vouchers for private and religious schools will play a major part in the governor's agenda were confirmed by Times-Picayune reporter Andrew Vanacore in this article.

Citing unnamed administration sources, Vanacore wrote, "Gov. Bobby Jindal and his allies on education reform are considering an unprecedented, statewide expansion of private school vouchers..."

Tenure also on the line: Also high on the governor's agenda for "education reform" is the protection offered to public school teachers by the state's tenure law.

Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Penny Dastuge told Advocate reporter Will Sentell that tenure "is the subject that comes up in every conversation" for this story.

As Sentell put it, "Dastugue, a Jindal appointee, said legislation could address anything from how long teachers with unsatisfactory ratings should have before they face formal job reviews, to new tenure policies for future teachers.

Coalition leader hits "reforms": With a consensus growing that the Jindal administration plans to make vouchers and expanded charters big pieces of his education agenda, St. Tammany Parish school Board President Jack Loup is pushing back.

Loup, who recently accepted LFT's Friend of Education Award, told WWL-TV in New Orleans that the governor's emphasis on charter schools is misplaced.

Noting that charter schools can be much more choosy about their students than traditional public schools, Loup said, "Our Constitution says, we take all, we teach all. OK, well we're doing that in the public school system. We're not doing that in the charter schools."

Supremes to hear school waiver case: The case of Gov. Jindal's signature legislation from 2010, the phony-baloney Red Tape Reducation and Local Empowerment Act - will be heard by the Louisiana Supreme Court on January 23.

Advocate reporter Joe Gyan, Jr. writes here that the state will ask the high court to reverse a ruling by District Court Judge Mike Caldwell that the Red Tape Act violates the constitution.

The act gave Board of Elementary and Secondary Education the authority to waive state education laws if requested by local school districts. LFT successfully argued in district court that the act is unconstitutional because the legislature does not have the right to hand off its legislative responsibilities to other bodies.

Will our schools take another budget hit?

What does this year's looming $250 million state budget shortfall portend for the coming legislative session?

According to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell, the governor says it is too early to tell if ongoing budget woes will force yet another freeze on public education's Minimum Foundation Program.

The MFP, the funnel through which state aid flows to public school systems around the state, has been static for the past three years. Just once in the administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal has the MFP received its traditional 2.75% inflation factor boost.

In The Advocate's article, Gov. Jindal repeats his claim that public education spending has increased by better than nine percent during his administration.

Some of that increase came before the big freeze, but the bulk of it is simply because the number of public school students has risen. The MFP is based on the number of students in our schools, and and must be raised as the student count goes up.

Outside the MFP, Gov. Jindal has sliced some $80 million from vital programs like after school tutoring, literacy and numeracy initiatives, early childhood education and stipends for nationally certified teachers.

It's deja vu all over again...

They're saying that Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to cut another $250 million from the state budget "could be worse" according to this article by Gannett reporter Mike Hasten.

Of course, they've been saying that for the past three years, as our colleges and universities fall apart, roads and bridges crumble and health care shrinks.

So higher education will lose another $50 million, and all UL System President Randy Moffett has to say is that cuts will be made with a "careful and conscientious approach."

Not to beat a dead horse, but Louisiana still has over 400 tax loopholes on the books, that add up to a staggering $7 billion in lost revenue. Couldn't we take a closer look at just a few of them, and stop strangling our state's quality of life?

Coalition: Search for the best superintendent

The Coalition for Louisiana Public Education is calling for a nationwide search to find the most qualified candidate to be the next State Superintendent of Education, as reported here by Debbie Glover of The St. Tammany News.

But as Will Sentell of The Advocate reports here, Governor Bobby Jindal and Board of Elementary and Secondry Education President Penny Dastuge have made up their minds. There will be no search for a candidate more qualified than current recovery School District Superintendentent John White.

Estimating conference right to reject salary estimate, LFT says

How can anyone figure that the average teacher salary in Louisiana has gone up by $2,000 over the past year? Yet that is what the Education Estimating Conference was told on Tuesday, according to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

The committee decided not to accept the estimate, part of a much broader report on the state of public education's finances. That was the right decision, according to the Louisiana Federation of Teachers:

The state’s Education Estimating Conference was right to reject the portion of the report guessing that Louisiana’s average teacher salary has climbed to more than $51,000 per year, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

“In too many of our school systems, it is not possible for a teacher who has advanced degrees and is at the top of the salary schedule to ever earn that much money,” Monaghan said. “I believe it is fair to characterize this report as chatter, as noise that distracts us from inequities in the way we compensate educators.”

The LFT was responding to a report that consultant Mark Brantley presented to the estimating conference on Tuesday, in which he estimated that teachers this year earn an average of $51,560, an increase of nearly $2,000 over last year’s estimate, which Brantley pegged at $49,614.

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

Lottie Beebe on selection of a new superintendent

Lottie Beebe, Member-elect of the District 3 seat on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, has written a letter to the editor of newspapers around the state, making the case for a real search for the next superintendent of education. In case your local paper doesn't print the letter, here it is:

Dear Editor:

BESE’s first order of business will occur in January. With the announcement of Acting State Superintendent of Education Ollie Tyler’s resignation effective January 31, 2012, BESE members will need to find a replacement. I strongly advocate the search for a state superintendent of education who can offer leadership to the education profession.

BESE’s action in January is critical to school improvement and education reform. It will set the stage for success or failure. Consequently, it is imperative that BESE fulfills its responsibility to Louisiana’s citizens. There should be a national search for a superintendent who has a proven record of success relative to school improvement.

The individual should be one who has no political obligations and can make sound, responsible decisions independent of Governor Jindal, or Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, and others outside of Louisiana who may have contributed to the campaigns of BESE members. He or she should possess credentials required of district superintendents.

To deviate from such standards is irresponsible and confirms the adage, “It is not what you know; it’s who you know.” This is the wrong message to communicate to our students. On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, BESE’s student representative voiced his support of a state superintendent who has the credentials expected of local district superintendents. I commend this young man for recognizing the importance of standards.

According to my research, the individual who is being embraced by Governor Jindal as the next state superintendent of education is one who has only a BS Degree in English (most superintendents have a Masters plus 30 hours with many years of academic leadership), has served as a Teach for America Executive Director, and deputy superintendent in a New York School System. My understanding is that he has completed the BROAD Academy for Superintendents—a ten-month program requiring weekend attendance. This is insulting to educators who have worked two or more jobs to financially aid themselves in the pursuit of higher credentials and positions of leadership.

There are numerous issues and challenges that await BESE during the next four years. Again, I reiterate that the first order of business for BESE will determine the future of public education and our state for years to come. BESE needs to conduct a thorough national search for the best candidate for state superintendent before a decision is made.

Sincerely,

Lottie P. Beebe, BESE Member Elect
District 3

Tom Aswell's challenge to our leaders

Louisiana is fixin' to get tougher on our kids, with plans in the works to replace the current high-stakes LEAP test with a new, and so far acronym-less test that will be aligned with the "national drive to make public school courses more rigorous."

The implementation of the new test will probably make hash of the new Value Added Model of teacher evaluation, a fact that doesn't seem to faze the State Department of Education, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education or Gov. Bobby Jindal (but was recognized by Sen. Eric LaFleur at last Thursday's Joint Education Committee meeting).

Note that even as we make schools "more rigorous," we are freezing public education's budget, and cutting appropriations for after-school tutoring, technology initiatives and literacy and numeracy programs. Let's see how that works out.

And what are we really measuring with all these rigorous tests? A child's chance at future success?

If that's the case, all our elected officials should read this post by Tom Aswell over at Louisiana Voice.

He tells the story of a Florida school board member - a successful man who holds a Bachelor's degree and two Masters' degrees - who took that state's high-stakes math test.

Writes Aswell:

“I won’t beat around the bush,” he said. “The math section had 60
questions. I knew the answers to none of them, but managed to guess 10 out of
the 60.” He got 62 percent on the reading test. “In our system,” he said,
“that’s a ‘D,’ and would get me a mandatory assignment to a double block of
reading instruction.

Which got Aswell to thinking: Could our own test-happy bureaucrats and politicians pass the LEAP, much less its more-rigorous replacement?

At the risk of great personal embarrassment to myself (as if that would be
a precedent), I would like to issue a challenge to Gov. Jindal, each of his
cabinet members, every other statewide elected official (including the
congressional delegation), each member of the legislature, and especially to
each member of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, school board
members from all 64 parishes, and members of the Louisiana Board of Regents for
Higher Education...

I would like to challenge the aforementioned public officials to prove that
they are smarter than an eighth-grader. And to put my money where my mouth is, I will also volunteer to take the Louisiana eighth-grade LEAP test in the same
room, at the same time, as any public official who will take my dare. I’m
certain we can secure a room of sufficient size in the Claiborne Building that
houses the Department of Education.

Aswell lists some sample questions from Louisiana's test. It's worth a visit to his blog to read them, and ask yourself, honestly, how you would fare on the test used to judge our children's academic progress.

And then there was one...

After the November 19 election, it seems that there is only one reliable voice against knee-jerk, questionable "reforms" on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

But if this letter to the editor from newly minted District 3 BESE member Lottie Beebe is any indication, that voice will be loud, clear and independent.

In just a few paragraphs, Beebe rankles at the implication that she is against "real education reform," expresses reasonable reservations about the incoming Value Added model of teacher evaluation, and calls for a nationwide search for a new, high-qualified state superintendent of education.

It looks like there may be a lot of 10-1 splits on BESE over the next four years. But never underestimate the power of one, if that one happens to be right.

VAM promises a long and bumpy road

As expected, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education rammed through, with very little debate, a new teacher evaluation system heavily skewed toward a Value Added Model on Tuesday.

Not that there wasn't objection. As this Associated Press article points out, there were plenty of reasonable objections made by expert teachers and their organizations. The lack of debate was on BESE's side - like obedient children, they did as they were told and approved the new model.

As LFT President Steve Monaghan said, there are significant reasons to question the evaluation tool and its scoring methods, as well as the grievance procedure approved by BESE. Those will be revealed in detail in the coming weeks and months.

But just as a pre-Christmas appetizer, consider these issues.

The algorithm used to determine teacher scores has not been revealed. But based on reports from other VAMs, it is possible that one in three evaluations will not be accurate because the margin of error is extraordinarily high.

No procedure has been produced for a teacher to appeal a VAM score.

The Value Added Model will only apply to one-third of all teachers, those who teach courses measured by standardized tests. All others - two-thirds of our teachers - will apparently be evaluated by a double set of subjective evaluations, which are still to be determined but will go into effect next school year.

Even the new system's supporters agreed that there will be significant problems with the new system. That may prove to be the understatement of the month.

Is Jindal's BESE dominance enough?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Report: John White a done deal as superintendent

This story from Gannett reporter Mike Hasten predicts it plainly: John White will become Louisiana's new superintendent of education when the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meets in January.

Despite this plea, printed in The Advocate, from newly-elected BESE member Lottie Beebe, there will be no search for a superintendent, no question of qualifications, no scrutiny of record. Governor Jindal wants White to be superintendent, and he will be. QED.

Post-Thanksgiving catch-up

The education world did not stop turning just because teachers and school employees had a few days off for Thanksgiving. Here, briefly, are a few things you might have missed:

BESE election: Following the November 19 general election. Governor Bobby Jindal is in complete command of the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Eduction. Candidates favored by the governor and others who believe in his style of "reform" swept all three BESE runoffs: Kira Orange-Jones won District 2, Chas Roemer took District 6 and Carolyn Hill won District 8.

According to this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell, that means the governor "could have the support of nine or 10 members after months of 6-5 votes on key school topics."

The governor's only disappointment in the BESE races came in District 3, where St. Martin Parish School Board Human Relations Director Lottie Beebe defeated long-time incumbent Glenny Lee Bouquet in the October 22 primary.

In this article by Gannett's Mike Hasten, Gov. Jindal reports that he is happy with the new, right-leaning BESE. The new members seem to be struggling to maintain their own identity, but will that last when the governor applies pressure?

Expensive charter school: One charter school in Jefferson Parish spends $87,500 per student, according to this article by Times-Picayune reporter Barri Bronston. The school, which was established to serve students who have been expelled from middle schools for various offenses, has seven teachers and eight students.

That news prompted the Monroe News Star editorial writer to question, in very understated fashion, the wisdom of spending that much money on one school: "it's important to note that even charter schools require some close supervision."

"Within our local systems," the editorial notes, " you could ask Ouachita Parish Superintendent Bob Webber or Monroe City Schools Superintendent Kathleen Harris what they could do with $87,500 per student, and we are quite certain either one of them would respond that an investment of that much public money per student would result in a world-class school system."

Teach for America: The growing influence of Teach for America was explored in this article by Times Picayune reporter Andrew Vanacore.

Once seen as a sort of Peace Corps that brought idealistic young college graduates into hard-to-staff schools, Teach for America has become a political as well as educational force to be reckoned with.

Best known is John White, currently the superintendent of the Recovery School District and Gov. Jindal's pick to replace Paul Pastorek as State Superintendent of Education. But newly minted BESE member Kira Orange-Jones is also a TFT alum, along with the new executive director of BESE and Gov. Jindal's new policy advisor.

A little justice for some Filipino teachers: The Caddo Parish School Board has done the right thing and settled with the U.S. Department of Labor, awarding Filipino teachers in the parish some $1,300 each because of their entanglement with a crooked recruiting firm.

It is a small step to correct a much larger injustice. The settlement only applies to a specific charge brought by the U.S. Department of Labor against the Caddo school board. It leaves open U.S. allegations against other school systems, and does not deal with the LFT complaint, filed with the State Workforce Commission, that Filipino teachers were forced to pay fees that should have been paid by school boards under Louisiana law.

Value Added Model: As the state tests a new teacher evaluation scheme called the Value Added Model, questions are popping up about how fair it will be.

Reporter Sue Lincoln filed this story for the Southern Education Desk, in which LFT President Steve Monaghan questions how well the new system will actually measure teacher effectiveness.

The privatization of public education: In an epic article for The Nation, reporter Lee Fang exposed the "quiet but astonishing national transformation" of public education into a cash machine for big business.

Lobbyists, he writes, have "combin(ed) the financial firepower of their corporate clients with the seeming legitimacy of privatization-minded school-reform think tanks and foundations."

Focusing on virtual schools, he writes, "This legislative juggernaut has coincided with a gold rush of investors clamoring to get a piece of the K-12 education market. It’s big business, and getting bigger: One study estimated that revenues from the K-12 online learning industry will grow by 43 percent between 2010 and 2015, with revenues reaching $24.4 billion."

Local Federation chapters grow together: Educators in Caddo and Bossier parishes can expect to see their influence grow with the creation of the new Red River United Federation.

As reported here by Mary Nash-Wood of the Shreveport Times, the new organization combines the power of the Caddo Federation of Teachers and Support Personnel and the Bossier Federation of Teachers and School Employees.

"It will essentially be a super group over the two organizations," said CFT President Jackie Lansdale.

You're not paranoid - they really are coming to get you

Teachers, school employees, parents and supporters of public education have a lot to worry about. Not to sound paranoid, but they really are coming to get us.

In today's Advocate, reporter Will Sentell has a story about the speech that Lane Grigsby gave to Volunteers in Public Schools yesterday. Grigsby is the moneybag tycoon behind the Alliance for Better Classrooms. That's the group that poured tons of money into BESE and legislative races, demanding in return a pledge to oppose teacher tenure.

Grigsby's group is working closely with the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana and others to take the "public" out of public education. As the article puts it, "ABC favors a wide range of steps in the name of school choice, including tax credits and major changes in how public schools are funded."

Grigsby's isn't the only deep-pocketed, corporate-aligned organization to paint a target on the backs of public educators, however. On December 12, the Pelican Institute for Public Policy will hold its "policy orientation" for the Louisiana legislature.

Featured speakers at the conference will be Sen. David Vitter and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who says he'd like to shrink government small enough to drown it in a bathtub.

Panelists on the agenda include a laundry list of right-wing activists and legislators who are pushing a radical "reform" agenda aimed at privatizing, voucherizing and charterizing our schools.

The upshot of it all is this: Louisiana is now squarely in the middle of a national fight over public policy, with an emphasis on public education. After Saturday's general election, it promises to be a long and perhaps bloody four years.

Reasons to oppose Amendment 1

The Louisiana Budget Project has published the best reasons to vote against Amendment 1 in this Saturday's election: it "would damage the ability of state and local governments to provide revenue needed to support health care, education, and other essential services."

Aside from the simple fact that a constitution should comprise the broad values that define a state, not a laundry list of issues that would be better addressed in law and policy, this amendment is a bad idea.

It would prohibit local governments from assessing a transfer fee when real estate is sold. But there is only one parish where such a fee now exists, and there are no plans elsewhere to establish a transfer fee.

The amendment's proponents want to make sure that there never will be, and are willing to clog up the constitution with more micromanagement to accomplish that end.

Its supporters tend to be the same people who say they want smaller government, yet they are willing to tie the hands of the smallest level of government. Limiting local authority to raise revenues makes local government more dependent on state and federal resources, which sort of defeats the purpose.

Letter: Jindal fails schools on two counts

A reader's letter to the editor of The Advocate points out two issues that demonstrate Gov. Bobby Jindal's lack of concern for public services such as education, especially as they affect lower income citizens.

The reader cites the governors "possibly intentional" failure to win an $80 million grant to expand broad-band services to portions of the state that lack high-speed information technology, and his "certainly intentional" failure to apply for $60 million in federal funds to expand pre-kindergarten education.

The comments that follow the letter are enlightening, and demonstrate that both the governor's supporters and detractors are following these issues.

Governor playing reform close to vest

What's next? Gov. Jindal was handily re-elected, but is reticent to announce his plans for the future, other than to say "education reform" looms large on his agenda.

As Advocate reporter Michelle Millhollon writes here, details are lacking. The governor's supporters apparently expect to have their own ideas of reform implemented. Those include abolishing teacher tenure, expanding vouchers for private and religious schools, scaling back on local authority and handing much more control of schools over to the state department of education.

The governor himself is mostly silent, leaving LFT President Steve Monaghan to comment, “To me, it’s almost like you have a gift box and inside you have another gift box. When do you get to what it is?”

They're catching on...

Gov. Jindal may have just won a re-election landslide, but that does not mean his programs and goals are all popular.

In fact, if this column by the publisher of the Livingston News is any indication, people are starting to catch on to the governor's real agenda for public schools, and they don't like it one bit (free registration is required to see the full article).

Jeff David starts his column in terms as stark as any you're likely to see: "Let's be very clear about it. The primary stated goal of the Bobby Jindal administration during its second four years will be the elimination of the public school systems in the state of Louisiana, including the public school system in Livingston Parish."

These are fighting words in Livingston Parish, a reliably Republican, middle-class community that is very proud of its excellent public school system.

"The Governor of the state of Louisiana," David writes, "the one you voted for three times in droves, is about to drive a knife into your back and twist the handle for good measure."

Like Paul on the road to Damascus, the scales have fallen from Jeff David's eyes. He understands what the governor is up to, and he's appalled.

"Why would Jindal turn his back on the very people who elected him?" asks David. "So that he can run for President, that's why."

And he seems to understand that Jindal's road to the White House will be paved with contributions from very big businesses - ones that expect to profit from the privatization of Louisiana's schools.

In order to carry through with his commitments, however," David writes, "Jindal needs both the Legislature and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to go along with the plan. Both have a shared constitutional say in where state funds for education are spent.

"That is why you have seen funded PACs, many with outside Louisiana money in them, come into the state this year and get involved in legislative races as well as BESE races."

As the people catch on to the governor's agenda, and as newspapers like the Livingston News start reporting what's really happening to our state, Jindal might have tougher sledding in his second term than he did in the first.

Ethics issues dog Chas Roemer and Kira Orange-Jones

Two candidates strongly supported by Gov. Bobby Jindal, big business and even New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are facing ethics issues in the waning days of the 2011 election season.

Kira Orange-Jones, candidate for the District 2 seat on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, is the subject of a cease-and-desist order signed by a New Orleans judge.

According to the online publication New Orleans Agenda, "Orange Jones had claimed in her
campaign advertising that she had voted for President Obama in November, 2008, but the
plaintiffs provided the court with a sworn statement signed by Orange Jones on August 17, 2011, that she had never before been registered to vote in Louisiana or any other place."

The order says that Orange-Jones must "cease and desist from misrepresenting her voting record or her registration in violation of Louisiana Revised Statute 18:1463." It is illegal for candidates to make statements that they know to be false or misleading, according to the article.

Chas Roemer, in a runoff for re-election to his District 6 BESE seat, has run afoul of the Louisiana ethics code and must return some $10,000 worth of contributions, according to this article by Mikhail Zinshteyn in The American Independent.

It seems that when the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry pumped $20,000 into Roemer's campaign, the cash infusion lifted him way over the legal limit for PAC contributions.

Gov. Jindal recently sent a fund-raising letter on Roemer's behalf, and his campaign fund for the District 6 seat - which pays no salary - now holds over $220,000. His opponent, former Ascension Parish Superintendent of School Donald Songy, has raised less than $14,000.

Songy's campaign chest is about par for BESE elections. The really curious question is why all the big money is pouring into Roemer's campaign. It is an unprecedented expenditure for the state school board.

But that's not the only ethics question dogging Roemer. His sister, Caroline Roemer Shirley, is executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools. Because of her relationship with Chas, she is prohibited from speaking at BESE meetings, and does not do so.

As this article by Louisiana Voice reporter Tom Aswell points out, ethics laws also prohibit elected officials from voting "on any matter in which a member or his immediate family has a substantial economic interest."

The ethics board has never made a specific ruling in his case, but it would seem that Chas Roemer should abstain from any vote involving one of his sister's schools.

Instead, Aswell writes, "In December of 2010 alone, he made motions to approve charter school contracts of $50,000 and under, made motions to approve Crescent City School, the NET Charter High School, the Collegiate Academy Charter School, the Sarah T. Reed Charter Middle School, the ReNEW K-8 Charter School, The ReNEW Alternative High School, and in one case, made the motion to deny an application to commence operation of Joseph A. Craig Charter School in New Orleans."

Value Added's epic FAIL in Tennessee

New York Times reporter Michael Winerip has written this expose of Tennessee's failed Value Added Model for teacher evaluation.

It's a devastating story of what happens when well-meaning politicians meddle in areas they know nothing about. We will soon see similar stories reported in Louisiana when our own politician-driven Value Added Model goes into effect.

As in Tennessee, our version of the VAM requires teachers to be judged according to their students' test scores. And as in Tennessee, a majority of our teachers have classes that are not subject to standardized tests.

Louisiana is in the process of devising a way to apply a VAM to non-core teachers that will probably wind up looking much like Tennessee's model.

Here's what reporter Winerip says: "Because there are no student test scores with which to evaluate over half of Tennessee’s teachers — kindergarten to third-grade teachers; art, music and vocational teachers — the state has created a bewildering set of assessment rules. Math specialists can be evaluated by their school’s English scores, music teachers by the school’s writing scores."

The result of Tennessee's bad experiment? Low morale, ill-will, micromanagement and loss of faith in the state's political leadership.

This story should be required reading for Governor Jindal, BESE members and the legislature.

BESE runoff elections are underway!

Early voting started Saturday!

Click here to find early voting locations in your parish

Nov. 5-12, 2011 is the early voting period for the Nov. 19, 2011 General Election (except Sunday and November 11, 2011-Veterans Day).

Early voting hours: 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Early voting takes place at the Registrar of Voters office in each parish and at designated locations in certain parishes.

LFT supports Louella Givens in District 2

Click here to download a flier supporting Louella Givens.

District 2 BESE incumbent Louella Givens is in a tough fight to retain her seat on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Because she has often opposed the governor’s education agenda, she has been targeted for defeat by big-business interests and out-of-state meddlers.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has personally contributed $5,000 to her campaign, aside from the $100,000 he contributed to a new PAC committed to defeating pro-public education candidates.

“Louella Givens has been vilified for her pro-public school positions,” said LFT President Steve Monaghan. “She is a fighter for real education reform, and is a true advocate for all the children of the state.”

District 2 includes St. Charles Parish and parts of Orleans, Jefferson, St. John, St. James and Assumption Parishes.

Donald Songy is the best candidate for BESE District 6

Click here to download a flier supporting Donald Songy.

Donald Songy has a long record of success as a classroom teacher, administrator and superintendent of one of the state’s fastest growing, most successful school systems.

His opponent, Chas Roemer, spent the last four years blaming teachers for our problems and building a bureaucracy of high-paid State Education Department officials.

Here’s what you need to know before you vote:

Donald Songy:

• Retired classroom teacher, assistant principal, principal, personnel director and superintendent of Ascension Parish Schools.
  


• Opposes state seizure and privatization of public schools.Supports fair, consistent evaluation of teachers.
  


• Believes that resources should go to the classroom, and that public education’s Minimum Foundation Program should be fully funded.
  


• Endorsed by teacher organizations, school boards, and the coalition for public education.

Chas Roemer

• Managing partner of an investment corporation. One-term BESE member, elected without opposition in 2007.
  


• Conflict of interest—consistently votes for taking schools and issuing charters, even though his sister is the executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools.
  


• Asked legislators to sign a pledge to abolish teacher tenure. Major supporter of former Superintendent Paul Pastorek’s “Value Added Model” of teacher evaluation.
  


• Helped Pastorek stack the State Department with over 40 new bureaucrats making more than $100,000 per year. Opposed restoring the MFP’s 2.75% growth factor.
  


• Benefits from a $100,000 contribution from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Supported by an anti-public school coalition of big businesses.

District 6 covers Livingston and Washington Parishes, and parts of East Baton Rouge, Tangipahoa and Ascension Parishes.

Federation urges vote for Jimmy Guillory in BESE district 8

Click here to download a flier supporting Jimmy Guillory.

The Louisiana Federation of Teachers has endorsed Jimmy “Dr. Jim” Guillory in the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s District 8 runoff election.

“Dr. Jim” is a strong, independent supporter of public education. A former member of the Avoyelles Parish School Board, he understands the needs of a district that includes some of the most challenged urban and rural schools in the state.

His opponent is supported by the cabal of big-business and out-of-state meddlers, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who want to seize control of public education in Louisiana.

Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan urged voters to overcome divisions and vote for the candidate whose educational background and unquestioned support for public education make him the best-suited person for the job.

“The stakes are high this year, and the future of public education hangs in the balance,” said Monaghan.

District 8 covers Avoyelles, East and West Feliciana Parishes, and parts of East and West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Ascension, Pointe Coupee, St. Landry Evangeline, St. Martin and Lafayette Parishes.

Advocate editorial: Jindal selling our kids short

Add Baton Rouge's own Gray Lady to the list of those perplexed by Gov. Bobby Jindal's refusal to apply for a $60 million grant to expand pre-kindergarten services to the thousands of eligible children in our state.

This editorial in The Advocate probes the governor's claim to be focused on education, while at the same time rejecting money for a strategy proven to help children succeed.

"We hope," the Advocate's editorial writer says, "this isn’t a case of Republican Jindal dismissing a promising source of help for Louisiana’s schoolchildren just because the help is being offered by the Democratic Obama administration."

Columnist gets it right on tenure

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

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

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

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

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

School discipline's Catch-22

There have recently been a few disturbing, highly publicized incidents of teachers physically attacking students.

While no one condones it when a teacher loses control like that, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan explained to WAFB-TV that a changing culture in our classrooms has led to increased frustration in the teacher corps.

"If that teacher is dealing excessively with discipline, discipline, discipline all day long - we're all human beings," Monaghan told reporter Kelsey Davis. "At some point there is a breaking point."

Louisiana has tough laws on the books that ought to guarantee an environment that is conducive to teaching and learning. But all too often, those laws are not enforced.

One reason for that is a "Catch-22" built into our state's school accountability laws. Disciplinary actions such as expulsions and suspensions must be reported, and can help lower the letter grade reported to the public. Doing the right thing can lead to bad results for the school.

Why is the mayor of New York buying Louisiana elections?

Why is so much money being funneled into an election to a board that pays no salary? And why is the mayor of New York City so interested in Louisiana's public schools that he donated $100,000 to a group that is dedicated to stacking that same board?

Those are just two of the questions swirling around the 2011 election to the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. As EdLog has noted before, BESE has risen higher than ever before on the political radar screen.

At the heart of the issue is Gov. Bobby Jindal's desire to have complete control of the state school board, and the ability to name the next superintendent of schools. That requires eight votes on an 11-member board.

The governor appoints three members. The rest are elected. And the person chosen by the governor to be the next state superintendent is a former deputy chancellor of the New York City school system.

Mayor Bloomberg's donation was to the Alliance for Better Classrooms. It was formed by multimillionaire Lane Grigsby in order to elect BESE members who would adhere to a rigid corporatist ideology and support the governor's agenda.

Which helps to explain why a state school board race is being shaped by forces from far outside the borders of Louisiana, from all the way to the halls of power in New York City.

The foolish inconsistency of Bobby Jindal

"Foolish consistency," Ralph Waldo Emerson once sniffed, "is the hobgoblin of little minds." But what is there to be said about the foolish inconsistency of the Jindal administration's refusal to apply for $60 million in federal funds for pre-kindergarten education?

That's the topic explored by Associated Press pundit Melinda Deslatte in this column, in which she explores an inconsistency that crosses the line into hypocrisy.

The governor had no qualms when he denounced federal stimulus funds for other purposes, then accepted the tainted money and presented huge cardboard checks to local officials as if they were personal contributions to the welfare of the communities.

So what's the big deal about the pre-K program? We all know that early childhood intervention is the best guarantee of future academic success. This sudden, foolish inconsistency will do actual harm to thousands of children who could benefit from pre-K services.

And congratulations to Sen. Mary Landrieu for pointing out the damage that Gov. Jindal's decision can cause.

Livingston issue proves union value

If teachers and school employees ever wonder why a union is valuable to them, they need look no further than this article by Advocate reporter Faimon Roberts.

The Livingston Parish School Board had adopted a policy requiring employees to complete an overly intrusive medical history form just in case they are ever injured on the job and need to apply for worker's compensation.

They would have been forced to complete the form, which included numerous questions about very personal issues, and have every page signed by their principal or supervisor.

Unions complained. At a school board meeting, LFT Field Representative Mona Icamena said the information required on the form went far beyond what principals ought to know about their employees.

Thanks to the unions, the board agreed to change the way information required by workers' compensation is collected, keeping sensitive information away from prying eyes.

Stretching the numbers and the truth

Across the political spectrum, Gov. Bobby Jindal's agenda is being exposed as an exercise in spin aimed more at political gain than the good of the state.

As Mark Ballard, The Advocate's capitol bureau chief, lays out in this column, Jindal's claims of fiscal success ring very hollow.

First, C.B. Forgotston, a right-leaning economic analyst, lays bare the deception in the governor's claims that he has “reduced the state budget by a stunning total of $9 billion..."

In fact, the reduction claimed by Jindal is the result of comparing estimates, according to Forgotston, and not because of any real reduction in the budget.

As the Louisiana Budget Project has demonstrated, when federal funds are subtracted, Louisiana's general fund budget has remained virtually flat since 2005.

Then there is the administration's claim to have actually increased education funding through the Minimum Foundation Program, a claim debunked by the LFT in Ballard's column.

The governor did not increase education funding. Per-pupil funding for the MFP has been frozen for three years, thanks to the governor, the legislature and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

While the total amount of money in the MFP has gone up, that is because of increases in student enrolment and other automatic triggers that the governor does not control. He is taking credit for something he did not do.

Outrage du jour: Jindal turns down millions for pre-K

Shocking many in the education community, Gov. Bobby Jindal and his underlings refuse to apply for some $60 million in federal early education funds, as reported here by The Advocate's Will Sentell.

Despite a wealth of data proving beyond doubt that pre-K intervention is the best way to ensure future academic success, the Jindal administration has already frozen LA4, a nationally respected program. The result is that tens of thousands of children remain on waiting lists for this service.

Now the administration doesn't even deign to ask for the available federal grant, claiming that it comes with "strings." All that means is that the state has to prove a need - no heavy lift there - and that we have proper organization for our pre-K services.

Just another shameful episode for a state that lags the nation in just about every positive measure.

Truth in advertising: Chas Roemer edition

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

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

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

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

Bloated bureaucracy? Take a peek in the mirror.

School letter grades become BESE issue

In this Advocate article, District 6 BESE member Chas Roemer says of the recently released school letter grades, "For the first time we are getting a real sense of how our schools are doing.”

How can that be possible? There are two things that we know about the letter grades: they tell us absolutely nothing new about schools because they simply repackage existing data; and they lump so many key components together that the effect is to slap a meaningless label on schools.

But for Roemer and the other Jindal allies on BESE, letter grades have become a defining, bright-line issue in this year's election. Roemer's two opponents, Democrat Donald Songy of Ascension Parish and Republican Elizabeth Meyers of Livingston Parish, both oppose the way letter grades have been imposed. Both Meyers and Songy have been declared favorable candidates by LFT.

In District 8, the article notes, LFT-endorsed candidate Domoine Rutledge opposes the letter grades while other major candidates are in support.

Educator gives state "I" and "D" for grading schools

Educator and researcher Dr. Andre Perry says the State Department of Education's letter grades for schools is a "gross, inexact measure that does not reveal the very important details of how a school is performing" in this article from The New Orleans Agenda.

"The State," he concludes, "must add letter grades that separately measure key components of school performance as part of a school report card. In the meantime, the State and individual school leaders must now explain the inaccurate grades without sounding like they're offering excuses for them. Therefore, the State should be given an 'I' for its incomplete efforts to measure school performance. But, following the their own practice, we'll give them a 'D' for their efforts."

School letter grades are intellectually dishonest

Letter grades have an important function in schools. In each subject, children receive grades as indicators of their progress and to identify areas that need improvement. Letter grades have become so ingrained in our culture that everyone understands "A" means excellent and "F" means failure.

But no child ever comes home from school simply labeled "A", "F" or anything in between. The letter grades indicate levels of progress in a range of subjects.

Which is one reason why the letter grades issued to schools this week are so intellectually dishonest. They simply slap a label on a school without explaining anything. School letter grades take advantage of a common understanding in order to create an impression that can be very misleading.

A second reason why this week's exercise is intellectually dishonest is that the school letter grades tell us nothing that we don't already know. Before Wednesday, schools were rated by a system of stars and labels. The new system assigns grades of “A” through “F” to schools and school districts. There is no other difference in the way that school data is collected or analyzed.

Governor Jindal and his political cohort simply repackaged what we already know about schools in the most negative light possible, then held a press conference to bang the drum for their own idea of reform just weeks before an election.

The news media took the bait, as this article, which occupied most of The Advocate's front page on Thursday, demonstrates.

The media frenzy validated the Louisiana Federation of Teachers' concern that "assigning a single letter grade to a school oversimplifies complex issues and trivializes the numerous factors that contribute to the performance of a school."

It should be no surprise, for example, that magnet schools with selective admissions policies earned an "A," and no one should be shocked that alternative schools which take in troubled children for short periods are labeled with an "F."

What is lost in the hoopla over the new labels is the fact that most schools are improving, and that teachers are going to extraordinary lengths to help their students succeed.

These gains are underway even though resources for public education have shrunk dramatically. The main funding source for schools, the Minimum Foundation Program, has been frozen for three years, even as costs to local school boards skyrocketed.

Over $76 million for after school tutorial programs, classroom technology, reading and math initiatives and stipends for nationally certified teachers - the very programs that help students succeed - was cut by Governor Jindal.

The governor called Wednesday's press conference and touted these questionable labels to further his campaign on behalf of his hand-picked candidates for the legislature and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Their agenda is clear. They want to abolish teacher tenure, turn more schools over to private operators and seize authority over schools from locally elected school boards.

If the governor and his allies are really concerned with improving education, they will fully fund the Minimum Foundation Program and restore the programs that work to achieve student success.

LFT Marches in Solidarity with Shipyard Workers

The Louisiana Federation of Teachers marched October 1 in solidarity with workers at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, which is under threat of closing. LFT leaders from around the state made the trek to New Orleans to show support for the shipyard.

It was a true Second Line parade, with marchers stepping out behind the Treme Brass Band and a grand marshal replete with umbrella, all members of the musicians' union. Hundreds of workers and community supporters met at the Superdome and marched down Poydras Street for a rally at the federal building.

The shipyard workers live in Jefferson Parish and surrounding communities, and their children attend local public schools. Educators already are seeing the ravages of past rounds of budget cuts and the effect they have on students. If the shipyards close, this dire situation will become even worse, so AFT members are doing their best to be there for the workers and their families. (More information about the fight to save Avondale is available online .)

"We all need Avondale, and American business needs more ships," said United Teachers of New Orleans President Larry Carter. "We want to know what elected leaders and the Avondale owners are doing to keep the shipyard open. Our community, our students and our jobs depend on it."

Teachers and school support personnel alike realize that the shipyard's closing would hit the New Orleans area economically and harm the public schools, said Laura Harper, PSRP chair of the Jefferson Federation. "Many of our members have spouses who worked at the yard and have already been laid off," she said. "They can't find other jobs, so they are living on unemployment and the salary of the PSRP member, which tops out, for a paraprofessional, at $23,500.”

See more photos of the march in our Facebook album. Please click here.