Inside Report for Nov. 23, 2011
Jindal needs Legislature, not just BESE for change
Gov. Bobby Jindal scored a big win in elections for Louisiana’s top school board, but most of his key education plans will rise or fall in the Legislature.
Jindal is all but certain to have achieved his key goal — lining up enough allies on the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to win approval for his choice to be state superintendent of education.
John White, who is superintendent of the Recovery School District, will likely get the job when the new board takes office in January.
Yet regardless of how pro-Jindal the new BESE is — he may have nine or 10 allies on a regular basis — most of the governor’s top school proposals will require changes in law, which means approval in the state House and Senate.
Teacher tenure, which provides certain job protections, is considered one of the possible items on Jindal’s education agenda.
It is a volatile topic, and any effort to change tenure will trigger resistance from teacher unions and others.
BESE may well endorse calls to change state law. And leaders of the panel may testify for legislation on the subject.
However, whether anything is done on the subject will depend on whether Jindal and his allies can line up enough votes in the House and Senate.
Leslie Jacobs, a former member of BESE who pressed for sweeping changes in public schools, said she is pleased with the makeup of the new BESE.
Jacobs said the panel can forge key changes, such as how public schools are funded and how a push to make courses more rigorous will work.
Yet the role of BESE in revamping public schools goes only so far.
“The governor will have an agenda,” Jacobs said.
“A lot of that agenda will be decided in the Legislature,” she added. “BESE may weigh in that they support the agenda, but all the conversation about those issues is in the Legislature, not BESE.”
The same goes for other hot-button school topics in 2012, such as changes in teacher retirement, steps to boost the number of charter schools in Louisiana, and tax credits aimed at giving families more choices.
Knowing the Legislature has the final say on key school issues helps partially explain Jindal’s new alliance with veteran state Sen. John Alario, R-Westwego.
The governor took some criticism for backing Alario to be the next president of the state Senate, especially since Alario used to be an ally of former Gov. Edwin Edwards.
Yet Alario is also a respected legislative tactician, and someone who could help muscle through ambitious bills on tenure and other school topics.
What the BESE elections mean, officials said, is that voters clearly want changes in public schools.
“I definitely think it is the right direction in terms of being open to innovation,” said Stephanie Desselle, senior vice-president of the Council for a Better Louisiana, and one who has watched public school changes unfold since 1997.
The key question is whether Jindal can convince the Louisiana Legislature that school changes are the way to go.
Will Sentell covers state education issues for The Advocate’s Capitol news bureau. His email address is wsentell@theadvocate.com.