Activist calls out school officials
“We have got to change education.” lane grigsby, political activist
Public school leaders have to be “willing to stick a finger in the status quo’s eye” to improve Louisiana’s education system, Baton Rouge contractor and political activist Lane Grigsby said Thursday.
“We have got to change education,” he said, adding that plans are already in the works for a new push next month to improve schools.
Grigsby spoke to a group called Volunteers in Public Schools, which includes business leaders and others who offer assistance.
Grigsby is the unofficial leader of the Alliance for Better Classrooms political action committee, which is heavily involved in races for the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, called BESE.
Grigsby said part of the reason for his involvement in BESE races is to “change the focus at the top,” a reference to the 11-member board’s role in setting policies for an estimated 668,000 public school students statewide.
However, he focused his comments on general education issues rather than specific BESE races that will be decided on Saturday in three runoff elections.
In the past, Grigsby and his political action committees have been involved in legislative, congressional and other races, and sometimes triggered controversy over their pointed themes.
Grigsby noted that Louisiana is ranked 47th in the nation in student achievement.
He said that, as the founder of Cajun Industries Inc., he often has to figure in about $10,000 in private school costs per child in order to lure employees to Louisiana because of problems in Baton Rouge area public schools.
But Grigsby said this is the first time he has seen a “sea change” in the state and that he and others plan to launch a statewide bid for more school innovation next month through a campaign called “Your Child Our Future.”
He said the aim of the drive will be “let’s change things” in public schools and that any groups looking for solutions will be welcome.
Grigsby said leaders of the effort have met with the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools and the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, among others.
He compared the school push to the drive in the mid-1970s to enact a “right to work” law, which he said state lawmakers responded to after voters demanded it.
Such laws prohibit mandatory union membership.
Gov. Bobby Jindal has said public schools will be one of the top priorities of his second term.
“There is no topic that is not going to be on the table,” Grigsby said.
One of the keys for improvements, he said, is for traditional public schools to face more competition.
“We are going to give the parents the right to choose,” he said.
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.
A group of superintendents, local school board members and teacher unions disagree with that approach.
They argue that the public school system is being damaged financially and otherwise by the loss of students to charter and other schools.
Grigsby’s audience included some of the top officials of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, including Barbara Freiberg, president of the system’s board and Lizabeth Frischhertz, chief officer for accountability, assessment and evaluation.