Note: This is the second installment of a two-part series. You can read Part I here. When Kyle Serrette learned back in February that Louisiana was on the verge of winning an $8 million charter school grant from U.S. Department of Education, he wasn’t happy about the news. After all, he had spent the previous […] More
Over the past year, a small group of education leaders from across Louisiana has been secretly plotting to curtail charter school expansion, weaken the state’s accountability policies, and rewrite the law passed earlier this year to return New Orleans schools to local control. The group, which calls itself the Louisiana Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools […] More
Over the past several weeks, Governor John Bel Edwards has made a flurry of appointments to various boards and commissions, including his Advisory Council on the Every Student Succeeds Act, a new committee the Governor established through an executive order in late May. The Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA), of course, is the latest iteration of the Elementary and […] More
For more than ten years, critics of the Recovery School District (RSD) have attempted to portray the state takeover of schools from the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) as an assault on democracy. “RSD does what it chooses and does not have to answer to the public,” Rev. Dwight Webster complained to the Times-Picayune in […] More
It has long been clear that the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) does not work in the best interests of students. After all, LFT has been on the wrong (and losing) side of several debates over past several years. They joined with Tea Party-aligned lawmakers in an attempt to repeal Common Core. They have supported […] More
With the 2016 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature now in full swing, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the campaign finance records of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) and Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE) to see where their donations have been going. Below, I’ve assembled all campaign donations […] More
It’s safe to say that when it comes to K-12 education policy, Governor John Bel Edwards and I often disagree. Nevertheless, I wholeheartedly support several of the Governor’s other policy objectives, particularly those which seek to improve the welfare of low-income families, such as his efforts to increase the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit and […] More
With all of the attention given to New Orleans this summer around the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, you may have missed the good news that’s come out about the performance of students from across Louisiana. The positive results released over the past several months show that the policies advocated by Superintendent John White and […] More
I’ll tell you, it’s pretty depressing being a Louisiana Democrat these days. It’s hard to believe that when I moved to this state just 13 years ago, Democrats occupied six statewide offices, including Governor, as well as both U.S. Senate seats. Since that time, the GOP has proceeded to systematically demolish the Democrats’ once-dominate position […] More
A bill pre-filed by State Rep. John Bel Edwards (D-Amite) on Wednesday indicates that he plans to resume his attack on charter schools during the upcoming legislative session. Edwards’ proposed legislation, House Bill 101, would force charter schools to follow the same eligibility and certification guidelines required for staff in traditional public schools. Freedom from […] More
Peter Cook