Strong performing charter schools in the Recovery School District (RSD) make a compelling case for even greater decentralization in Louisiana’s education system, according to the proponents of student based budgeting.

Last November, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) began studying the new budgetary concept at the behest of the state’s Streamlining Commission.  Under current policy, state money is allocated to each school district and the district officials determine how much money each school receives. But there is a better way to maximize resources and direct money into the classroom, Lisa Snell, the director of Education and Child Welfare at the California-based Reason Foundation, said.

“We’ve learned from the charter school movement that decentralization has its advantages,” Snell explained. “One of the problems we see at the federal, level and district level is that there are a lot of rules about how to spend money and principals are held accountable for student achievement. But the principals have very little input how resources are directed in specific instances. They should have more autonomy over how resources are aligned toward their school’s instructional goals.”

The idea behind student based budgeting (SBB) is for school dollars to be dispersed on a per-pupil basis and to follow individual students into schools where the principals determine how the money is best spent. Snell made the case for SBB last year before a BESE task force. She was joined by three other presenters from across the country who have successfully implemented the new budgetary method in their districts.

Matt Hill, an administrative officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District, told task force members that assigning financial resources directly to schools had allowed for each school to have greater flexibility to make specific decisions in spending, which in turn improved student performance. Jason Willis, a former budget director with the Oakland Unified School District, said some tasks are better suited to “economies of scale” at the central office, but most duties associated with “enhancements to learning” were better dealt with at the school level.

BESE has authorized a pilot program set to go into full effect next year that includes at least six different parishes: Jefferson, Sabine, Terrebonne, Assumption, Lafourche and Iberville. Officials with St. John the Baptist indicated earlier this year that they may not take part in the pilot after initially signing up, but the parish has not officially withdrawn, Penny Dastugue, the BESE president said. She anticipates the pilot program will yield useful information for school officials over the next several months.
“This is a voluntary way for districts to explore new concepts and new practices,” Dastugue said. “The idea here is to empower local school leaders and to shift the decision-making over to the local schools where there is a firm understanding of student needs.”

School districts that have embraced SBB throughout the country find that it translates into greater transparency, heightened flexibility and greater equity, Dastugue noted. She also said that the overall success of the charter school program suggests that SBB can be made to work in a larger scale.
“A one size fits all approach does not work,” she said. “We need to be student specific and let principals address the individual needs of their schools. In a way, we already have a successful for student based budgeting with our charter schools.”

Snell, the Reason education analyst, points out that SBB has produced encouraging results in other parts of the country in large school districts. The LA Unified district in Los Angeles, Calif. currently has 110 schools involved and will include all 900 of its schools next year, she said. Snell also cited programs in Boston, Mass. And Newark, N.J.

The outcome of this Saturday’s BESE school board elections could have a significant impact on Louisiana’s pilot program, Dastugue, the board president acknowledged.  Top officials with Louisiana School Boards Association (LSBA) and the Louisiana Association of Superintendents (LAS) have been critical of SBB. Both organizations are part of the Coalition for Public Education, which also includes several teachers unions.

Lloyd Dressel, the interim executive director of LSBA, expressed concern that SBB could distract principals from their primary responsibility. He also said the pilot program is much more “open-ended” than what has been set up in California.

“We have some misgivings,” Dressel said. “We think the spigot has been opened too wide and too much authority is being moved away from superintendents. We don’t have principals at each individual school with sufficient training to administer the books in way that would be necessary with this kind of budgeting. This can get too open-ended in our view. The principal’s chief job is academic performance and if he has take time away to handle budget questions this would lessen the time devoted to academic performance.”

Russell Armstrong of Baton Rouge, who is running for the open BESE seat in District 8 also sees a danger that SBB could become “too open ended,” but he does support the pilot program..

“We need to make sure our principals are trained to handle this new approach, so we do have to be careful about making this too widespread at the outset,” Armstrong said. “But I like the idea of allowing local officials to have more autonomy so they can improve outcomes for our students. The pilot program is very worthwhile and we should be open to new ideas. Part of our job is to make sure this is implemented in the right way.”

Snell, the Reason Foundation analyst, expects SBB to become more widespread over time in Louisiana and in other parts of the country.

“The central office that has control is always going to be resistant,” she said. “They do want to tell principals how to spend the money, and they do think they know best. But we’ve already seen some successful implementations that have become very empowering to principals, teachers and students. The idea is catching on.”

SBB can be viewed as an extension of charter school movement, Snell added. The concept has already moved beyond theory and into practice in the Recovery School District where local officials are delivering a quality education without centralized control, she said.

The Pelican Institute did try contacting several of the Coalition-backed candidates including Sharon Hewitt, Louella Givens and Lottie Beebe, but did not receive a response.

Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. He can be reached at kmooney@pelicaninstitute.org and followed on Twitter.

The progress seen in post-Katrina New Orleans education received glowing commendations from the New York Times this week, continuing the spate of national recognition the city has received since overhauling the education system.
Prior to the storm, roughly 60 percent of New Orleans public school children attended failing schools. Now, this number has drastically shrunk to 18 percent – progress described by Education Secretary Arne Duncan as “stunning.” Likewise, nearly half of Recovery School District (RSD) students are now performing at the ‘basic’ level on state tests, double the rate from five years ago.

The editorial accurately credits drastic measures implemented on the state and local level with charging this revival. One of the particularly controversial reforms cited is the complete overhaul of the city’s teaching corps following Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent implementation of skill tests and higher performance standards.

The creation of the Recovery School District is also attributed with giving individual schools greater autonomy and reducing the stagnant central bureaucracy which plagued the prior school system, as well as the influx of energetic young teachers recruited from around the country. The RSD’s decision not to engage in collective bargaining with teachers unions is also noted.

Of all the reforms instituted, arguably the most notable is the preponderance of charter schools versus traditional public schools in the city, which far outpaces the ratio around the country. The correlation between charters, which employ more flexible and student-tailored teaching methods, and progress is hard to ignore. While charters are “often accused of siphoning off scant resources and taking the best students from traditional schools,” the Times points out that accountability measures have ensured that this is not the case in New Orleans.

While the progress in New Orleans is garnering national media attention, as evinced by this editorial, it is far from complete. Many schools are still failing and are rife with underperforming and troubled students. However, the upward trajectory of student and school achievement indicates that they are finally being given a chance to succeed.

Are business interests plotting to take over the public education system and turn a profit at the expense of the public?

That is the charge leading figures within the Coalition for Public Education have aimed against Gov. Bobby Jindal and the candidates pursuing seats on Louisiana’s top school board who favor expanding the number of charter schools. The Coalition includes the Louisiana School Boards Association, the Louisiana Association of Superintendents, several of the state’s teachers unions and other public education stakeholders.

But business industry representatives counter that these same coalition officials fail to acknowledge that the public school system has been draining Louisiana taxpayers while delivering an inferior product. Moreover, the coalition members have failed to explicitly identify which individuals and which organizations are actually turning a profit as a result of their affiliation with the charter school system, Brigitte Nieland, vice-president and communications director of the Education and Workforce Development Council for Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), said.

“We are talking about a union-led coalition that does not like to be described as union-led, that gets paid by the taxpayers to work on public time and to work against the interests of taxpayers,” she said. “That irony can only exist in public education.”

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, state officials created the Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans Parish and took control of schools that were viewed as failing. Charter schools, which are governed independently by a board of directors, figure prominently within this equation.

Charter schools are part of the public education system, but they are permitted to operate with a certain degree of autonomy and they are not subjected to all the rules and regulations that govern traditional public schools. The idea is to provide charter operators with room for creativity and innovation in lesson planning. The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), which oversees the RSD, authorizes charters for a five-year period, with a performance review every three years. Statewide, there are 101 charter schools now up and running with over 70 in New Orleans.

Lee Barrios, a retired middle school teacher from Abita Springs, and a candidate for the BESE seat in District 1, is ardently opposed to an expansion of the charter school system. The “capitalist theory” standing behind privatization efforts undermines a quality education, she argues.

“There are some high performing charter schools,” Barrios acknowledged. “But there is very little accountability and some have done very poorly. The privatization that [Gov.] Jindal has planned goes too far. I’m dead set against expanding charters, they’ve been expanded too much already. There is a capitalist theory that says there is money to be made in schools, but that’s wrong. Public schools are not set up for the purpose of making a profit, they are a different kind of animal.”

This assessment is well off the mark, Nieland, the LABI representative said in response.

“Charter schools are best described as public schools with an additional layer of accountability,” she observed. “They have to perform in a five year period, and if they don’t they are shut down. BESE has shut down charter schools that are not working. How many other public schools get shut down when they are not working?”

Nieland continued:

“There is a model still in place for public education that has not worked in decades,” she said. “Isn’t it terrible that we are now offering more choice to parents and students, instead of letting the education bureaucrats exercise total control.”

LABI has endorsed Jim Garvey of Metairie, the incumbent BESE member in District 1, who Barrios is challenging. Garvey said Louisiana residents should be encouraged by the progress charter schools have made in just a short period of time. He also points out that the overwhelming majority of charters are operated by non-profit organizations.

“The argument about a profit motive is bogus,” he said. “Who exactly is making money here? When you look at the charter school boards, and the organizations running the schools, they are almost all non-profits.”

There are only eight charter schools out of 101 that have contracted with for-profit groups, according to LABI. But instead of fixating on whether or not a particular organization is non-profit, or for-profit, education officials should look the results charters are delivering, Garvey argued.

“The place where charter schools have had the biggest impact is in turning around failing schools and that’s what we see in New Orleans,” he said. “We have seen real gains in school performance scores and they compare favorably with the rest of the state. If the charters are producing good results why should anyone be concerned if a small percentage are operated by for-profit companies. We should care more about the results we are getting for our children. If they [the charters] don’t get results, BESE will shut them down, and BESE has.”

The concept of “failing schools” has been oversold to the public in an effort to create an opening for the charter school movement, Barrios claims. Moreover, she suggests that parents may not have as much control and latitude within the charter school system as they may think.

“It’s very easy to go into big cities and high poverty areas and present charters as being innovative and autonomous and it’s very easy to create this picture where the schools are failing,” Barrios said. “But that’s not the reality. You are not going to turn out a good product if the money is going toward profit, and not toward the children. Also, parents don’t have any real control in the charter schools because they have to sign a contract.”

While charter school proponents are quick to point out that they are largely non-profit outfits, the professional management companies standing behind them use “code words” like “free market system for schools” and “schools must compete against each other” that point to “a perspective which establishes schools as markets rather than a public trust,”  Dr. Michael Walker-Jones, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE), a Coalition member, said. “We believe the business interests have an agenda to privatize the public schools for profit.”

When asked to name which business entities are out to turn a profit at the expense of public education, Walker-Jones cited Teach for America, a non-profit group that recruits college graduates to teach in urban and rural settings for a two-year period.  Barrios, the District 1 candidate, pointed to prominent business leaders including Michael Milken and the Walton family.

“Here is where I get into a real heavy debate with the conservative viewpoint,” Walker-Jones said. “If you look at education strictly from the viewpoint of economics, I think you lose the art and craft and science of the practice. If we believe that the capitalism overrides everything else then we are missing out on the complexity that goes into an effective education.”

He added:

“Our schools are not a business, they are public trusts, and if we operate them like a business then I think this destroys the whole democratic underpinning of what it is that we have schools for in the first place. They are here to train and teach citizens to be critical thinkers and part of the intelligent decision making and democratic structure of this country.”

Robert Evans, a board member of the Choice Foundation, which runs the Lafayette Academy and Esperanza Charter Schools, advises the voting public to be wary of the information Coalition members are putting into circulation in the run up to Saturday’s elections.

“There is no individual profit motive involved in the running of these schools,” he said. “Charter school board members get paid nothing for the time that they spend working for their schools. In fact, most board members donate money, and in many cases, significant amounts of money to their schools. The reason that the individuals I know get involved in the governance of charter schools is because they genuinely want to be a positive force to help transform the historically horribly under-performing schools of Louisiana.”

Garvey, the BESE 1 incumbent, sees a deliberate effort at work on the part of Coalition members to misrepresent the goals of Teach for America.

“The union members are not giving us an accurate picture of what Teach for America is all about,” he observed. “It is non-profit group that is recruiting highly qualified teachers to go into challenging areas where they are producing above average results. They are only required to stay two years, but they usually stay longer. Teach for America has been very effective.”

Union officials are making a concerted effort to “vilify the word profit” because they recognize that average citizens are asking serious questions about how their tax dollars are being spent on schools that are not delivering an effective education, Nieland, the LABI representative said in response.
“It is a fallacy to say there is no profit in public education,” she pointed out. “The current system cuts too much money out of the classroom. Tell the school boards they can no longer do contracts and we’ll see if they put their money where their mouth is.”

Most school boards are the largest employers in their parish and most have budgets that are larger than the city or municipal budget, Nieland explained. The boards purchase and contract out for many items including capital construction, textbooks, vehicles and improvements to the buying and selling of land.

“To say there is no flexible money which equals a profit in public education is not true,” she continued. “If there was no profit in the system, all of the money would be going into the classroom, and no district would have a central office building. The superintendents are paid as well as CEOs, and have benefits that rival or exceed the private sector.”

The progress charter schools have made in a short period of time should be cause for encouragement and continued support, Evans, the Choice Foundation board member, said. Since the movement was initiated in the 2006-07 academic year, the School Performance Scores (SPS) in New Orleans have improved by almost 50 percent, he said.  Specifically, in the first school that the Choice Foundation chartered, Lafayette Academy, the SPS has gone from 58.8 in the 2007-2008 school year to 88.5 in the 2010-2011 school year.

“The school reform movement in New Orleans is considered one of the most promising examples in the country of what can be accomplished if new approaches are taken,” Evans said. “I have always felt that the key to economic prosperity, lower crime rates and self realization is a good educational foundation. This was lacking in our state.”

Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. He can be reached at kmooney@pelicaninstitute.org and followed on Twitter.

An audit of the state’s Recovery School District (RSD) 2010 fiscal year, issued by the Legislative Auditor’s Office, found impressive gains in the student performance of district schools, particularly charters. While the report did determine that the RSD needs to improve several aspects administrative oversight, the drastic improvements in student progress outweigh the negatives.

The tangible gains in student achievement are extremely heartening and are by far the most important finding of the audit. Between 2008 and 2010, the RSD’s performance score increased by nearly 18 percent, while the graduation rate leaped by 19.5 percent since 2009. Charters, which constitute the vast majority of RSD schools, demonstrated the greatest gains. Overall, 60 percent of RSD schools have improved to the point that they are no longer considered failing.

An editorial about the audit in the Times-Picayune also noted that it discredited a favorite accusation of charter opponents that the RSD receives a disproportionate and unfair share of state funding. In actuality, the RSD ranked 21^st out of 57 districts in per pupil spending. These statistics point to a higher level of efficiency among charters than many of their traditional counterparts.

As noted by the audit, though, the RSD still has work ahead, notably in oversight. Turning in annual reports late is hardly scandalous, but concerns over evaluating the progress of younger students are valid. It is also imperative that the RSD be consistent in monitoring charter schools for adherence to the requirement mandated of all public schools, which the audit finds that it has not been.

Charters, and as a whole the RSD, are held to a higher standard of accountability than the failing, inert pre-Katrina system. Failing schools and offenders, as evidenced by the Abramson case, are shut down, something which never occurred prior to the RSD despite the abysmal state of public education. For this system to succeed, it needs to be self-correcting, and that requires consistent performance monitoring. However, the substantial, documented gains are the real story here and need not be overshadowed by administrative inconsistencies.

Louisiana’s experiment with charter schools could be restrained and limited if the right mix of candidates running for the state’s top school board seats do not prevail in this year’s election, warn industry officials who are backing several newcomers and three incumbents.

With Gov. Bobby Jindal expected to cruise to re-election, attention has turned to the contested seats on the 11 member Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). The governor fills three of the seats by appointment and the other eight are elected.

Only one incumbent, Linda Johnson, a Plaquemine resident, has announced that she is not seeking re-election. Glenny Lee Buquet of Houma, indicated earlier this year that she would not seek another term. But earlier this month, she unexpectedly announced that she would seek re-election. Buquet, a former BESE president who has served on the board since 1992, said she reconsidered after speaking with Gov. Jindal.

At least six of the elected seats could be highly competitive now that a new political action committee (PAC) called The Alliance for Better Classrooms (ABC) has entered the fray. ABC will spend at least $1 million on “reform candidates” who support its policy objectives, Lane Grigsby, a Baton Rouge contractor who helped form the PAC, has told members of the press. The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) recently announced several endorsements.

On the other side of the ledger, the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education, which includes teachers unions, local school board officials and local superintendents, is backing several candidates that are less keen on the concept of school choice and other reform initiatives favored by Gov. Jindal and former Superintendent Paul Pastorek.

In an interview, James Garvey, the BESE vice-president, who seeks re-election in the first district, expressed concern that union-backed candidates could short-circuit innovations that are just now taking root in the New Orleans Parish Recovery School District (RSD).

“We have seen tremendous results in the New Orleans parish compared to what it was in the period of Katrina and the statistics bear this out,” he said. “I would argue these improvements have come about because of some of the reforms that we have put in place and because charter schools provide parents and students with more options.”

Garvey, who has been endorsed by the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), is up against Lee Barrios, a retired middle school teacher, who has been critical of the reforms advanced through BESE. Unfortunately, the public is largely unaware of the large influence BESE has on education policy, Garvey said. This may change now that now that Gov. Jindal has interjected himself into the school board races, he added.

“I think a school has to attract a parent and the parent’s child, instead of having the child assigned to a school by some bureaucrat in a central office,” Garvey said. “I think a school is much more responsive to a child’s family when they do have a choice.”

Although Jindal was able to advance various reforms in partnership with Pastroek, they typically prevailed in narrow 6-5 votes on BESE. The governor would need eight votes on BESE to gain approval for John White, his preferred choice as a successor to Pastorek.

“We are talking about a very important set of elections,” said Brigitte Nieland, the vice-president and communications director for LABI’s education and workforce committee. “We need a good education system because business will need a qualified workforce to compete effectively in an international climate.”

While LABI ardently supports school choice, it does not have a particular preference toward about the delivery method.

“We can have school choice in variety of ways,” she continued. “It can be charter schools, or it could be vouchers or tax credits or something else. But we do believe providing families with options.”

LABI has also endorsed Kira Orange Jones, who heads up the New Orleans branch of Teach for America, in the Second District. Orange Jones is running against incumbent Louella Givens, an attorney and former teacher who has been reliable vote against Jindal’s reforms.

“I’m running because it’s important for us all to find ways to measure student growth and to provide parents with transparent information so they can make informed decisions,” Orange Jones said. “This board [BESE] is vital to our state’s future because it will be setting the direction for our future policies and our public schools and this has huge implications.”

As a career educator, Orange Jones found that students can excel when parents are given more autonomy and school systems are responsive to individual needs.

“I find that a lot of young students are incredibly capable when they are properly motivated,” she said. “But I saw that there were challenges within the system and for this reason parents did not always get the information they needed and we have very capable teachers who were quite understandably frustrated.”

Orange Jones also the charter schools had great potential over the long-term, but that their performance should be carefully measured and monitored.

Donald Songy, the former superintendent of schools for Ascension Parish is challenging incumbent Chas Roemer for the seat in the sixth district. Although he is not opposed to charter schools, Songy does not view them as a panacea and prioritizes other reforms. Songy also serves as the associate executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, which is part of the coalition.

“I’d be very careful about expanding charter schools,” he said. “Some are doing a very good job, but I’m concerned that others have not been fully accountable. I don’t think charter schools are the ultimate answer to the challenges of education in Louisiana.”

Songy favors a “universal, high-quality pre-kindergarten education system across the state” geared toward four-year olds and possibly three-year olds so they can be better prepared when they enter school.

“There’s a group out there that calls themselves the `reform candidates’ and I guess they would describe me as tradition or non-reform, but I have 38 years of experience in education. I was someone who lived reform and made it work in Ascension Parish. I stand for real reform, the kind that is sustainable and not pie in the sky.”

Holly Boffy, who was the 2010 state teacher of the year, is looking to unseat Dale Bayard in the seventh district.

“What I find interesting is that the people less likely to support reform are the ones who come from an education background,” said Boffy, who has been endorsed by LABI. “I see a lot of room for innovation in education and I think the charter schools can play a key role here. Some have performed quite well. Unfortunately, there have been instances where we find there is not enough accountability in some of the other charter schools. We need to ensure that the opportunities that we are giving to students are actually better than what they experienced previously.”

The other LABI newcomer Jay Guillot is running for the open seat in the fifth district against incumbent Keith Guice. As a private business owner, Guillot very much believes there is great value “reinventing” education to keep pace with changing circumstances just as he needed to reconfigure his company.
“We need to close the gap between the BESE board and the classroom,” he suggested. “We need to have better understanding of what the needs are for our teachers and our students here in the 21st century. I better school systems leads to a better society and we can have a bright future here in Louisiana.”

The BESE primary election will be held Oct. 22.

Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. He can be reached at kmooney@pelicaninstitute.org and followed on Twitter.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s decision to revoke the charter of Abramson Science and Technology Charter School may appear to be black eye to the charter school system and its advocates. In fact, the Abramson case highlights one of the benefits of a charter system over its traditional counterpart, namely increased accountability.

On Wednesday, BESE voted to take the operating charter away from the Pelican Educational Foundation after allegations that school officials did not respond appropriately to an alleged sexual episode between two students. This incident comes on the heels of other allegations of attempted bribery and cheating.

While this is certainly an embarrassment to the public education system as a whole, BESE’s decision to revoke the operating charter is a refreshing one for anyone familiar with the last few decades of public education in New Orleans.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans public education was a disaster. The vast majority of schools were failing, and badly. Schools not only failed their students, but put them in danger. Worse, the Orleans Parish School Board did little to improve the lives of its students and was mired in continual scandals and allegations of corruption.

Under the old regime, it is highly unlikely that changes to Abramson would have ever been made. The ability of the charter system to hold itself accountable and close poorly performing and delinquent schools is an unequivocal positive. BESE is now working towards finding a new operator for Abramson to facilitate a quick transition for the new school year.

While the charter system has its benefits, it is not a panacea for public education. Many schools still struggle to achieve academic progress. True school choice can be attained through voucher programs, which have proved successful, as in the case in Washington D.C. True education reform will not be achieved until students are allowed to attend the school of their choice, be it private, charter, or traditional.

Jamison Beuerman is a contributing writer and policy analyst  at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. He can be contact via email at jbeuerman@pelicaninstitute.org or followed on twitter @jbeuerman.

BATON ROUGE, La. – Pending website transparency requirements may soon place boards that govern public schools under greater scrutiny. The School Authority Transparency Act, HB 559, awaits floor debate and final vote tomorrow in the Louisiana House of Representatives, with Rep. Rosalind Jones (D – Monroe) as prime sponsor.

HB 559 would mandate publication of a wide variety of information, including school disciplinary procedures, detailed event calendars, and all board policies and procedures. It even goes so far as to include school dress codes, grade change processes, and strategies for bullying prevention.

A school governing authority in theory carries out the wishes of the citizens of that jurisdiction. However, Rep. Jones says constituents have brought their difficulties to her attention – that nominally public information has been difficult to obtain, even requiring legal counsel.

“So I thought to provide some sunshine, some transparency to school board policy and procedure… If the school boards have a website, they should be able to publish all their policies and procedures on the website, along with other pertinent information for parents.”

However, opponents contend that this law places greater top-down burdens on the public school system. Leslie Jacobs, a New Orleans-based education reform advocate and founder of Educate Now!, believes websites can provide valuable information for parents and community, but she cautions legislators that they “not continue to build layers of compliance that take financial and human resources away from the classroom.”

The new law’s requirements also apply to charter schools, which were initiated to be more independent – “overwhelmingly publicly funded, predominantly privately run,” as superintendent of the Recovery School District, Paul Vallas, has described. The proposed law, however, does not distinguish between charter schools and conventional public schools, except that it requires an additional list of charter schools.

“With respect to charter schools,” says Jacobs. “HB 559 is particularly burdensome… Charter schools do not have a central office, nor do they have the staff to constantly update their websites. This requirement will be costly.”

Andrew J. Coulson of the Cato Institute has observed that the “pattern in publicly funded education, both domestically and internationally, has always been one of increasing regulation over time… That same pattern is playing out in the charter school sector.”

Rep. Jones says she has observed little push-back to HB 559, including the governor’s office, suggesting she is confident of its passage.

Fergus Hodgson is the capitol bureau reporter with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy and editor of The Pelican Post. He can be contacted at fhodgson@pelicaninstitute.org, and one can follow him on twitter.
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Matthew Cole contributed to this article as research assistant with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. He studies economics at Loyola University in New Orleans.

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Despite ominous odds, New Orleans effectively has come back from the brink of annihilation to set a national standard for urban renewal. Yes, our crime rate is atrocious, and we face a looming budget deficit. New Orleans, however, is on the right track towards further prosperity and strength. We have joined the upper echelon of burgeoning metropolitan communities in what is becoming a divided national arena. On one hand, we have Milwaukee, Houston, and now New Orleans, as cities which have embraced innovative methods of educating our children, encouraging economic development, and promoting civic responsibility.

In contrast, we have cities, and entire states for that matter, which are being driven into the ground courtesy of expanding government and public sectors. As Gelinas so aptly notes, “In fiscal terms, [New Orleans] is very different from cities and states around the nation, which, bolstered by federal “stimulus” funds, continue to throw money around as if the property and credit bubbles had never burst.” These cities- Chicago and Los Angeles, for example- are being repeatedly bailed out for their own recklessness at great detriment to the rest of the country. Despite the huge amounts of money injected into these city lifelines, the benefits have been Lilliputian, if even that. We should be proud that New Orleans has become a microcosm of the former model, rather than an example of bankrupt failure.

That being said, New Orleans needs to continue on this path to ensure future growth and stability. As Gelinas mentions, our charter-based education system has become too dependent on federal cash, which is an unsustainable course. Continuing the progress of our schools will entail vouchers, tax credits, and increased school choice. Likewise, the reduction in city workers by 36% since Katrina has been a boon, but we need to further privatize city sectors such as transportation and security.

It should be clear from Gelinas’s excellent reporting, as well as from the Katrina experience of any New Orleanian, that the government failed us before, during, and after Katrina. It was the drive and initiative of our private citizens who reenergized the social and economic spirit of our city, and it will require these same characteristics to preserve our pace of growth.

Louisiana’s education leaders are wondering what more they can do to outperform other states in terms of reform. Louisiana failed to receive any funds in the federal “Race to the Top” program, and the lack of correlation between successful reform and monetary awards raises questions about the judging process.

Less than one month ago the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, described Louisiana as “leading the way” with data systems that monitor teacher preparation programs and student performance. And on Tuesday the Fordham Institute, a Washington-based education policy think-tank, named New Orleans the most education reform friendly city in the nation.

According to Frederick Hess, Director of Education Policy Studies with the American Enterprise Institute, “[the outcome] was a travesty. Colorado and Louisiana are regarded as setting the standard for statutory reform on teacher quality… Louisiana’s Recovery School District is a model that has been imitated by round one ‘Race to the Top’ winner Tennessee.”

More than two thirds of New Orleans elementary and secondary students are in charter schools, and Hess believes “Louisiana is home to the nation’s most vibrant charter school community… For Louisiana and Colorado to have finished outside of the dozen ‘Race to the Top’ winners is inexplicable.”

The 15th place finish took policy makers in Louisiana by surprise. Penny Dastugue, a member of the Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, was “absolutely shocked… We were confident that we would prevail in round two, and we had strengthened our application after the first round… There’s no rational explanation… We’re all shaking our heads.”

Dastugue had worked to pass legislation specifically for the competition. “The ‘Race to the Top’ proposal was pretty explicit in the expectations, and Louisiana had a lot of the components. We had those in place.”

When asked how she could have changed the proposal, Dastugue was at a loss. All she can say is that “with or without the dollars, we believe in [our reform]. We’re going to do it… Time will show that we are intent, and we’re capable of implementing these reforms with or without their money… Although, this money ($175 million) really would have helped; it’s devastating.”

Hess says the outcome “points to problems with the ‘Race to the Top’ criteria, which emphasize compliance with the department’s preferred practices rather than with a demonstrated track record of reform, an undue emphasis on grant writing rather than substance, and a bizarre weight placed on the dog and pony show visits to D.C. rather than what states have done on the ground.”

His “dog and pony show” comment refers to the oral presentations each state spokesperson gave to bolster his case. These had a marked effect on the outcome – enough to knock Louisiana out of the monetary awards, falling behind Ohio, New Jersey, and Arizona.

As Secretary of Education, Duncan did have the authority to change the rankings. However, he chose not to, and Hess describes the secretary’s position as a “lose-lose proposition.” There may have been a “bunch of undeserving winners,” but the alternative would have created “a firestorm among the states that were passed over.”

Hess is more concerned that the outcome will “undermine strong reformers in leading states like Louisiana and Colorado… It’s going to excuse business as usual in states like Hawaii and Ohio. And it’s going to undermine the Department of Education’s credibility when it advocates tough-minded reforms for teacher quality or accountability.”

Michael Petrilli, vice president of the Fordham Institute, believes that by not overriding the rankings, Duncan took “the path of least resistance,” and opted for “union peace” over the interests of children.

“[The peer reviewers] came out with a ranking that didn’t make a lot of sense. Everybody, whatever side of the issue, thinks that Louisiana is a trend setter in education, has been pushing the envelope – what’s happened in New Orleans is incredible – and deserves to get this funding. The peer review process is really just advisory. At the end of the day he can give the money to whomever he wants. He has legal standing to do so.”

He notes “fierce union opposition” to the Colorado and Louisiana plans. In fact, the Recovery School District in New Orleans is the nation’s only major city district with no teachers’ union contract or collective bargaining agreement. According to a Fordham Institute profile, “the teachers’ union wields almost no power to block or weaken reforms, and is generally focused on narrow issues such as dismissal hearings.”

“More than anything, it just shows that with these competitive grant programs the outcome can be arbitrary and capricious… The problem is there is no way to perfect the process; it’s inherently subjective… so you allow a secretary to have that discretion, to use his own judgment.”

Regardless of the controversy, President Barack Obama plans to repeat the program next year, and he has already requested $1.35 billion in funding.

Click below to hear the thoughts of Frederick Hess (six minutes).

Fergus Hodgson is the Capitol Bureau Reporter with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. He can be contacted at fhodgson@pelicaninstitute.org, and one can follow him on Twitter. This article first appeared here on the Institute’s home page.

A small percentage drop in state-wide LEAP scores, accompanied by a single percentage point improvement when all three tests (LEAP, iLEAP, and GEE) are averaged, is hardly a triumph, especially when English scores declined despite a $13 million investment in literacy programs. Furthermore, test results in St. Helena exhibit all the makings of a scandal, and are already an embarrassment. One percent of St. Helena passed the LEAP test this year, down just so slightly from 64% last year.

In contrast, test results from Louisiana charter schools indicate the necessary direction for the future of Louisiana public education. Within both the Orleans Parish School District and the Recovery School District, the average LEAP scores of charter schools trounced those of traditional state public schools. In the troubled RSD, charter students had a 50% higher pass rate than students in traditional public schools. Less drastic, but still impressive, the pass rate of OPSD charter students was 13% higer than their colleagues in standard public schools. This is another ringing endorsement for charter schools and a strike against the homogeneous and ingrained methods in public schools.

In the Louisiana State Legislature, two bills in particular are poised to build on the success of the charter school model and expand it to general public education. HB 1033, introduced by Rep. Frank Hoffman (R- District15), recently cleared the Senate floor and now awaits Governor Jindal. HB 1033 would essentially revamp the teacher evaluation process, judging teachers on effectiveness and not on seniority. Though dropouts in Louisiana’s public schools are endemic, and progress is generally lacking, 99% of tenured teachers continue to receive the “satisfactory” evaluation necessary to retain tenure.

Under this bill, teachers would be evaluated every year, rather than every three, and 50% of their evaluations would be based on objective, quantifiable academic progress, while the other half would be based upon traditional methods of oversight. Teachers marked as ineffective would be able to undergo professional training to hone their teaching skills, while teachers designated as ineffective for three consecutive years would be terminated. HB1033, when passed, will foster unprecedented accountability within Louisiana’s public schools.

Another essential bill is HB 1368, authored by Rep. Jane Smith (R-District 8). Smith’s bill would enable latitude in educational methods in public schools which request it. Under HB 1368, local school boards can apply to BESE for waivers from typical rules and regulations regarding public schools, such as classroom size, curriculum, funding, personnel, student support, and instructional time. The school district must demonstrate to BESE how the waiver will increase the quality of education and improve student achievement.

If implemented, HB 1368 has the ability to grant public schools the freedoms and flexibility which have enabled charter school’s in Louisiana to attain such visible success. It is necessary to incorporate unique and innovative classroom methods, as it is extremely difficult to effectively institute top-down standards and rote techniques on schools representing different demographics and different needs.

Hopefully, the passage of HB 1033 will facilitate the path into law for this necessary piece of legislation. The advantages offered by charter schools in Louisiana are clear in a comparison of this year’s test scores. Please contact your local legislator and help ensure that these advantages are available to every student.