Louisiana’s Education Revolution

It can take a clean slate to produce radical improvement. In Louisiana, Hurricane Katrina cleaned the slate, and Gov. Bobby Jindal has produced the radical improvement. The governor has spearheaded radical education reforms that will produce better students, reward successful teachers, and wash out those teachers who don’t make the grade.

Some of the reform provisions signed into law by Governor Jindal are listed below. Every state education commissioner and governor ought to read and reread the provisions of the three laws that make up the Louisiana reforms and take them to heart.

HB 974 by Rep. Carter

  • Under      this law, more specific performance targets that consider student      achievement and recruiting and retaining effective teachers would be      required in the contracts of superintendents in C, D, and F districts.
  • The      law also requires school boards to delegate to the superintendent and      principals hiring, firing, and teacher placement power and authority to      make reductions in force (RIFs) primarily based on effectiveness.
  • Additionally,      this law gives districts the ability to construct their own salary      schedules for new employees based on what they need—such as math teachers,      teachers to work at high poverty schools, and performance. Under this law,      districts can start rewarding current teachers based on performance and      demand.
  • The      law says layoffs and compensation will now be done based on merit rather      than longevity alone.
  • The      law also makes clear that tenure should be earned and not given      automatically. Under this law, teachers would earn tenure after five years      of highly effective ratings

HB 976 by Rep. Carter

  • First,      this law gives parents more levers to affect change by allowing a school      to become eligible for Recovery School District (RSD) intervention after      three years of failing if at least 51 percent of parents at the school      sign a petition to do so.
  • Second,      this law creates three additional pathways to become a charter school and      this legislation streamlines and improves the charter application process      for all charter authorizers.
  • Third,      this law gives students access to more courses regardless of zip code.      Under current law, students are generally funded on a per pupil basis to      attend one school full time. If the school they attend does not have the      courses they need or want, the student doesn’t have many options for      accessing these courses. This law creates a new type of entity that can      offer individual courses to students. All students at public and private      schools have access to these courses, but only certain students are      funded.
  • Fourth,      this law expands access to the Scholarship Program to students in C, D,      and F schools or who are entering Kindergarten statewide whose parents      make up to 250 percent of the Federal Poverty level.

SB 581 by Sen. Appel

  • There      are many full time and part time early childhood educational and health      programs that receive a total of $1.4 billion in state and federal funds      per year, plus an additional $150 million for Head Start. The system is      regulatory and focused on inputs, making it difficult for early childhood      providers—public and private— to navigate. There is no measure of quality      that gives parents actionable information.
  • Under      this law, BESE would create a coordinated early childhood system by July      1, 2013 by doing four things:
  1. Establishing      a definition of Kindergarten readiness and setting performance targets for      children ages 0-2 and academic standards for children ages 3-4 based on      Kindergarten readiness and aligned to the Common Core Standards for K-12.
  2. Creating      a uniform assessment and accountability system for publicly funded      programs that includes letter grades as clear actionable information for      parents.
  3. Coordinating      with DCFS and DHH to align licensing standards for childcare      priorities—specifically those receiving CCAP public funds – and align the      Tiered Quality Improvement Rating System with this new accountability      system. This will streamline and reduce red tape for providers so that      dollars flow more easily and the system is easier to navigate according to      a set of aligned program standards.
  4. Including      Head Start programs, which would have to participate in this new system      and improve the quality of their programs as a condition of their      licensing.

For the governor’s full press release click here.