Jindal sets education goals
Teacher quality, school choices top his agenda
Gov. Bobby Jindal said Monday that improved teacher quality, more school choices and giving local educators new flexibility in how dollars are spent will be the key goals of his 2012 education agenda.
Changes in Louisiana’s teacher tenure law, which provides certain job protections, and rewards for top-flight teachers are also among the possibilities, other officials who attended the meeting said afterwards.
“If I were a betting person, I would say there is some kind of legislation around tenure,” said Penny Dastugue, president of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and one of the participants in the 70-minute, closed-door meeting in Jindal’s office.
State Sen. John Alario, R-Westwego and Jindal’s choice to be the next president of the Senate, said tenure changes are possible and should be looked at in light of public school problems.
Alario, a state lawmaker since 1972, said he has backed “every education reform” and a variety of money-raising measures aimed at improving schools.
“But all of that doesn’t seem to have worked at this point,” Alario said after the meeting.
“So I think it is a matter of going in and breaking it all apart and seeing what we can do to make it work,” he added.
Jindal did not mention teacher tenure, and any bid to revamp it would trigger fierce opposition from teacher unions and their allies.
Others at the meeting included state Rep. Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles and Jindal’s choice to be the next speaker of the Louisiana House; Recovery School District Superintendent John White, who is the governor’s pick to be the next state superintendent of education; and Chas Roemer, who won a second term on Louisiana’s top school board earlier this month.
Jindal said Monday’s gathering was one in a series of get-togethers that he plans with teacher union leaders, lawmakers, principals and others.
He said he plans to unveil his school package in January, which lawmakers will then officially review starting on March 12 when the regular legislative session begins.
Jindal listed teacher quality as the first of three “guiding principles” for improving schools.
“It is absolutely critical to do everything we can to put an excellent teacher in every classroom in Louisiana,” he said.
Jindal said that includes finding ways to identify the best teachers, keeping them and recruiting others.
Dastugue said after the meeting that removing impediments that districts face in keeping the best teachers, and replacing those who are ineffective, are among ideas under review.
“You are going to see ways to attract and retain the best teachers, just like you would in any other business,” she said.
On another point, Jindal said new options are needed for students and families stuck in low-performing schools.
“We must make sure that parents, especially the parents of students trapped in failing schools, have more choices, more options available to them,” he said.
Jindal said charter schools, which are supposed to offer innovative alternatives to traditional public schools, and online classrooms are positive steps.
But he added, “There are other steps that we need to take as a state to make sure our children have a full array of choices and options.
“It is not enough to tell these children to wait,” Jindal said.
The governor also touted major changes in how schools spend their dollars as the kind of flexibility they need to improve student performance.
He said a handful of school districts this year took part in a pilot project that gives principals the authority on how to spend most state, federal and local education dollars.
Under current rules, the state allocates school aid, which is then sent to districts on the basis of staffing levels, programs and other factors.
Jindal said his public schools agenda is driven by several concerns, including the fact that 44 percent of the state’s roughly 1,300 public schools got a “D” or “F” in a recent report.
“It is not enough to make incremental progress when we have so much work to do in our education system,” he said.