Louisiana is R2T finalist in second round

Louisiana is one of 18 states chosen as finalists in the second round of federal Race to the Top funding, reported in this press release from the Department of Education.

The press release says the state could get as much as $175 million from the competitive grant. But as this Christian Science Monitor article points out, the total amount requested by finalists is about $6.2 billion, while the total amount available in R2T funds is $3.4 billion.

Advocate editorial hits Stelly repeal

The Advocate gets it exactly right in this editorial. When the legislature overturned the tax reforms in the Stelly plan, the stage was set for the fiscal crisis facing Louisiana today.

Problem is, that's pretty much water under the bridge. The Stelly reforms have been so thoroughly poisoned by political opportunists that bringing up the subject is close to pointless.

But there is a gold mine of information in the Budget Project report that can move the debate beyond Stelly. More than 440 tax expenditures - those are tax revenues that are spent on various rebates and tax incentives - cost the state some $7 billion a year.

No doubt, many of those breaks are valuable and necessary. But repealing just a fraction of them would solve our budget woes.

When shills for big business claim that Louisiana has the highest business taxes in the nation, they are right. But thanks to the myriad exemptions, most businesses don't pay those taxes.

Next year's legislative session will be fiscal. Now is the time to open the discussion on Louisiana's hidden budget, and to question the list of tax breaks offered up by the state.

The man can't help himself

Given an opportunity to tout his legislative successes and point to a decline in "unacceptable" schools, State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek chose instead to attack teacher organizations and local school boards in this article by Advocate reporter Will Sentell.

It could have been a "puff piece," a calm reflection on his first 40 months in office. But it seems that the superintendent just can't help kicking over ant piles.

LFT files suit to halt "Red Tape" act

As promised, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers has filed suit to halt implementation of Gov. Bobby Jindal's signature education bill, the so-called "Red Tape Reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Program."

The Federation's case is simple: the governor and legislature do not have the right to hand off the legislature's lawmaking authority to policy boards. We believe the constitution is quite clear on the issue.

For their part, Gov. Jindal's henchmen and the Bossier City Representative who's carrying his water are reduced to name-calling, as this article by Gannett reporter Mike Hasten reveals.

Their attempts to paint the lawsuit as "a sad attempt...to block reform" just don't wash. LFT has consistently supported reforms that are research-based and proven to be effective. We have a problem with bogus reforms that mask attacks on public education and the teaching profession.

We just don't see the Jindal plans to charterize, privatize and voucherize our schools as legitimate reforms.

But that's not even the point in this case. It's the legal issue. As LFT President Steve Monaghan put is, "This is a slippery slope that strongly threatens everyone's appreciation of what law is. Because we support the legislative process and the value of law, we have no choice but to challenge the constitutionality of this act."

Here is a link to the LFT Web site's report on the lawsuit, which has links to the lawsuit itself.

Pastorek: "I did it"

Was State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek falling on his sword to protect Governor Bobby Jindal, or was he really the one behind the veto of funds to pay stipends promised to nationally certified educators?

Does it matter? We know that neither of them apparently believe in the value of national certification, or in keeping the word of the state or, for that matter, in the value of the people who dedicate their lives to our our schools and our children.

Anyway, here is the Associated Press story in which Pastorek says he is the culprit, and not the governor, who wanted to axe the stipends.

EdLog taking a vacation

EdLog will be on hiatus until late July. Have a wonderful summer!

New study: "No clear edge for charter schools"

Courtesy of Education Week, a new study by Mathematica Policy Research of Princetion, NJ, reveals that "Students who won lotteries to attend charter middle schools performed, on average, no better in mathematics and reading than their peers who lost out in the random admissions process and enrolled in nearby regular public schools..."

Monaghan: Session was "very painful"

Advocate reporter Will Sentell wraps up the legislative session's effects on education in this article.

Depending on how you look at it, this was either a wonderful session for public education, or a most painful one.

Coming down on the "wonderful" side is the Jindal administration, which pushed hard for pieces of legislation that teachers and school employees really hate. Those include an unnecessary teacher evaluation bill, and a really awful scheme that allows school boards to seek waivers for virtually any law or policy governing education.

Says Jindal's chief legal counsel, "It was an enormously successful session when it comes to education."

LFT President Steve Monaghan calls the session "very painful." He reflects the mood of the state's teachers and school employees, saying, "I don't think anybody would consider the 2010 session any renaissance of the legislative process."

Pastorek takes blame for loss of stipends

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek is taking credit for the loss of $16.3 million for stipends paid to nationally certified educators, according to this Associated Press article in the Shreveport Times.

Pastorek says the stipend payments would have deeply cut his education department budget, so he asked Governor Jindal to veto the line item.

Says LFT President Steve Monaghan, "This is very disappointing, demonstrating a breathtaking lack of understanding for the effort educators have made to enhance their skills and improve our schools."

Outrage as Jindal vetoes teacher stipends

In a move guaranteed to outrage educators, Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed $16.3 million to pay stipends for nationally certified teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers and school speech language pathologists and audiologists.

The governor announced his vetoes late Friday. While local school systems must by law pick up the stipends for teachers, some of the others will lose their stipends if school boards choose not to fund them.

The governor also "unraveled efforts to shield Southern University and Southeastern Louisiana University from significant budget cuts," according to this article by Advocate reporters Michelle Millhollon and Mark Ballard.

Pastorek slips legislative snares

Is state Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek very lucky, or as wily as a Borgia pope?

That's the question roiling Baton Rouge today. Two separate Advocate articles reveal that Pastorek slipped through snares set by his legislative foes just as easily as that BP oil evades efforts to capture it.

Lawmakers thought they had Pastorek on the ropes with passage of Senate Bill 302. Originally intended to assign letter grades to schools and school districts (the public apparently finding numbers too baffling to understand), the bill was amended to require the state school board to evaluate Pastorek every year and give lawmakers a written copy of the report.

Thinking they had staged a coup, legislators crowed Monday night and on into Tuesday morning that they had finally humbled Pastorek.

But as Will Sentell reports in this Advocate story, the House of Representatives didn't actually pass the bill, "even though the Legislature's Web site said Monday evening that it had won final approval."

"Even state Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie and sponsor of the bill, was surprised to learn on Tuesday afternoon that his bill failed to win final House approval," according to Sentell.

Score one for Pastorek.

The second incident came with the apparent failure of a top Pastorek aide to win Senate approval for a plum $160,000 position.

The superintendent wanted Karen Burke, the former head of the state's Recovery School District, to become assistant superintendent of the Office of Educator Support, a position that required senate confirmation.

Any senator can blackball a nomination, as Advocate reporter Marsha Shuler tells the story here. And more than one senator was apparently willing to drop one on the superintendent.

Denied the confirmation, Pastorek simply slipped Burk into an unfilled position that had been approved last August. The job pays $160,000 per year.

The maneuver won't win the superintendent any friends in a department which recently laid off 31 employees, but Pastorek doesn't see himself in any sort of popularity contest, anyway.

In this game, the score stands at Pastorek 2, legislature zero.

LFT member taking a stand for children

Congratulations to St. Landry Federation of Teachers member Madeline Taylor, who is tossing her hat in the ring for election to the parish school board.

Says Taylor, who will retire from teaching if she wins the election, "All the work I have done and continue to do has children as my primary focus. I am an advocate for what is best for the children as well as their parents who seek the finest educational resources that the St. Landry Parish School System has to offer. After all, our children are our greatest and most precious assets."

The Opelousas Daily World has the full story here.

Is the Jindal budget more harmful than the BP spill?

Gambit publisher and WWL-TV analyst Clancy DuBos poses a disturbing question: What's more harmful to Louisiana's culture, the BP oil spill or the just-adopted state budget pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal?

DuBos makes a really good case for Jindal. The state's bare-bones budget, he writes, "does more long-term damage to 'culture' across Louisiana than the BP disaster."

From higher education cuts to local arts programs, Dubos says, the governor's stance makes way for culture and the arts to "become collateral damage in his budget wars."

Dubos concludes, "...the next time you see Jindal railing against the feds and BP about the destruction of our culture, remember that he's one of the biggest destroyers of all.

LFT to file lawsuit challenging “Red Tape” act

(Baton Rouge – June 18, 2010) The Louisiana Federation of Teachers will file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of HB 1368, the so-called “Red Tape Reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Program,” Federation President Steve Monaghan announced today.

“As we argued before every committee that heard the bill, we believe that this act is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority,” Monaghan said. “The legislature simply does not have the right to hand off its responsibility to another branch of government.

“We are filing this lawsuit out of respect for the value of law,” Monaghan said.

As passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives, the bill would allow local school superintendents, with school board approval, to ask the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for a waiver of virtually any law or policy governing public education.

BESE is a policy-making body comprising 11 members. Eight are elected, and three are appointed by the governor.

“If allowed to stand, this law will permit BESE to act as a legislative body,” Monaghan said. “That board will be allowed to decide which of the laws passed by the legislature will be enforced, and in which communities.

“By outsourcing its legislative authority to BESE and allowing the selective enforcement of duly enacted laws,” Monaghan continued, “we believe the State Legislature has unconstitutionally ceded its authority to another entity.”

Monaghan said that HB 1368 is very different from the state’s charter school law, which allows waivers of laws and policies that affect other public schools.

“In establishing charter schools, the legislature itself spelled out the laws and policies which could be set aside for a charter experiment,” Monaghan said. “But in the “Red Tape” act, the legislature is giving BESE the discretion to cherry-pick which laws can be flouted, and in which school districts. That is a crucial distinction.”

Federation General Counsel Larry Samuel said the lawsuit will be filed in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge after it is signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal. The suit will ask for an injunction prohibiting BESE from taking any action based on authority granted by the “Red Tape” act.

“We do not believe that we are breaking new ground with this suit,” Samuel said. “We believe there is adequate, settled case law proving that the legislature does not have the constitutional authority to delegate its responsibilities to an administrative body.”

Schools may need BP money to offset losses

Education Week reporter Alyson Klein has a story online saying that states affected by the BP oil disaster may need the oil company's compensation funds to offset revenue losses due to the massive oil leak.

Senate joins House, capitulates to Jindal

Times-Picayune reporter Bill Barrow was on the scene last night when the Senate joined the House of Representatives in surrendering its lawmaking authority to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Since the "Red Tape Reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Program" was greatly desired by Gov. Bobby Jindal, it always had a strong chance of passing - another example of the power wielded by the Louisiana governor's office.

But just because the governor want it, does not mean it is good law. And HB 1368 by Rep. Jane Smith (R-Bossier City) is very bad law.

This is the first instance in which the Louisiana Legislature actually punted its lawmaking authority to a policy-making board, in this case the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

And because three of the 11 BESE members are appointed by the governor, the executive branch will gain even more leverage over public education in the state.

LFT strongly opposed the bill, with members of the Federation's Action Center sending some 30,000 messages of opposition to lawmakers. For more of the Federation's reaction to the vote, please click here.

No more "Omnia gallia in tres partes divisa est?"

Word is out that LSU is planning to drop some of the degree programs that entitle it to be called the state's flagship university.

On the block are degrees in Latin, German and Classics. If you think that suximus maximus, send an e-mail to the LSU Board of Supervisors here.

"Red Tape" waiting for the 11th hour

The decision on Gov. Bobby Jindal's so-called "Red Tape reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Program" (HB 1368 by Rep. Jane Smith, R-Bossier City), is being delayed, along with a number of important bills.

As Advocate reporter Will Sentell writes here, "...dozens of other proposals are also awaiting debate in the often chaotic final days before any adjournment, which in this case is June 21."

The "Red Tape" act is particularly vexing to teachers and school employees because it fits so poorly into the mix of school reforms that have been adopted already.

The governor's plan would allow school systems to ask for waivers from virtually any law or policy that governs public education. That includes class size, instructional time, funding and personnel issues like teacher tenure.

But at the same time, another newly-passed law seeks to standardize teacher evaluations across the state. There's an obvious collision course: teachers working under widely varying classroom conditions cant be expected to conform to a single evaluation standard.

Just as troubling is the thought of a legislature volunteering to surrender its lawmaking authority. If the bill passes, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education will be the body that grants waivers to local school boards. BESE is a policy board, not a lawmaking body.

Note that in Sentell's article, Gov. Jindal's lawyer avoids talking about the bill's possible constitutional SNAFU, but instead says just that they probably have the muscle to get it passed in the Senate.

Passage of the bill would set the concept of separation of powers on its ear. There's still a chance to send senators a message of opposition to HB 1368; please click here for redirection to the LFT Action Center.

"Tax expenditures" are draining the state

This is an important concept: tax breaks are tax expenditures. Every tax exemption and every tax credit costs the state money. As this Advocate column by Lanny Keller points out, Louisiana spends some $7 billion a year on tax expenditures, while tax revenue - the amount actually collected by the state - is about $8 billion.

We give back in tax breaks almost as much as we collect in taxes. That has been well-documented by the Louisiana Budget Project.

Imagine the shape our state would be in if lawmakers would rein in those expenditures by just a few percentage points. One-seventh of the giveaway would pretty much solve our problems.

As Keller notes, some, perhaps even many, of the tax breaks are necessary to protect vulnerable citizens. Those would certainly include sales tax breaks on food, prescription drugs, home utilities, etc.

Others may be important incentives to bring jobs to the state.

Problem is, as the column says, none of these billions of dollars in tax expenditures is ever reconsidered. Some have long outlived their usefulness, and yet they continue to cost the state money.

That ought to be considered as we slash funding for education, health care, recreation and other quality-of-life issues that are also very important in attracting businesses and jobs to the state.

State budget in turmoil; revenues lower than expected

The state budget, HB 1 by Rep. Jim Fannin (D-Jonesboro), is bogged down in the Senate Finance Committee, and there is no clear picture of what the budget will actually look like after the session ends on June 21.

As proposed, the $25.4 billion budget includes deep cuts for higher education, health care and a number of other state responsibilities. But as reported in the May 21 edition of the Weekly Legislative Digest, the Senate and House of Representatives are at loggerheads over resolving a shortfall facing the state in the current budget year.

The stumbling block is over use of the state’s “rainy day fund” to shore up the budget. While both sides want to use the fund to avoid a constitutionally prohibited deficit, they disagree over how and when the funds should be repaid.

The situation grew murkier on Friday, when the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference met to announce yet another shortfall in state revenues. With just two weeks left in the fiscal year, state economists said that revenues have fallen by another $261.4 million this year.

The state already cut this fiscal year’s budget by $200 million last December, and by another $319 million in April.

Leading the most recent decline in estimated revenues is a $250 million shortfall in collection of personal income taxes.

As Greg Albrecht, chief economist for the legislative fiscal office, said, “Obviously, we have been dramatically wrong this year.”

That set up yet another confrontation between the House and Senate. Speaker of the House Jim Tucker (R-Terrytown) said the Revenue Estimating Conference should not accept the economist’s report until the end of the year, and use some constitutional sleight-of-hand to pay back the deficit in the coming year.

Senate President Joel Chaisson (D-Destrehan), on the other hand, said the constitution does not allow a deficit, and recommended that the conference recognize the shortfall, which would require more cuts over the next couple of weeks.

Because decisions by the Revenue Estimating Conference must be unanimous, the issue was left hanging at that point.

The Senate Finance Committee will continue its discussion of HB1 next week.