Results mean change
New BESE board likely to back sweeping changes
“This is basically what I call a mandate for continued reform.” penny dastugue, president of BESE
Saturday’s runoff election results mean that Louisiana’s top school board will likely back the sweeping changes in school operations sought by Gov. Bobby Jindal and business leaders, education officials said.
“This is basically what I call a mandate for continued reform,” said Penny Dastugue, who is president of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and a Jindal appointee.
Dastugue referred to Saturday’s three runoff races, with all three winners backed officially or unofficially by Jindal as well as the self-styled reformers who contend that public schools need wholesale changes to get student achievement off the bottom of most lists.
Chas Roemer, a Baton Rouge businessman, Carolyn Hill, a Baton Rouge certified social worker, and Kira Orange Jones, a New Orleans “Teach for America” leader, coasted to easy wins in Saturday night’s runoff elections with the backing of business leaders and others who contend that public schools need major changes.
The results also come at a time when Jindal has said public schools will be one of the top priorities of his second term, and may include efforts to revamp teacher job security laws.
BESE has 11 members, including three named by the governor.
The new board makeup means that, in some cases, Jindal could have the support of nine or 10 members after months of 6-5 votes on key school topics.
Jindal backed winners in five of six primary and runoff elections, which all but guarantees that the new board in January will go along with his choice to be the next state superintendent of education — Recovery School District Superintendent John White.
The governor was unable to get the minimum eight votes needed for White under the current board, which helped prompt him to get heavily involved in BESE contests in a way that few governors have ever done.
In addition, Hill and District 2 winner Kira Jones of New Orleans are seen by observers as likely Jindal allies on key education issues.
Meanwhile, the new board is a huge blow to a coalition of local school board members, superintendents and teacher unions.
Don Whittinghill, a consultant for the Louisiana School Boards Association, said he sees only one or two potential allies on the 11-member panel. “Other than that I don’t see any of the new members being friendly to the traditional school stakeholders,” Whittinghill said Saturday night.
BESE sets policies for an estimated 668,000 public school students statewide.
The board has been sharply divided for months, and this year’s elections featured a clear choice between advocates of big changes and those who contend that traditional public schools are under siege from state takeovers, charter schools and other steps.
Charter schools, which are supposed to offer innovative alternatives to traditional schools, are likely to grow under the new-look BESE, Dastugue said. “More of it across the state, not just in the urban areas,” she said.
Dastugue also said that offering more school choice for families “would definitely be on the agenda,” which could mean support for school tax credits.
She said vouchers are a legislative issue.
Brigitte Nieland, a vice-president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, a business lobby, said the BESE results mean that “for the first time you will have a majority of members . . . who believe in education reform and progress.
“We cannot stay at 47th in the nation,” Nieland said, a reference to studies that put student achievement in Louisiana near the bottom of the nation.
Jindal said the results of the three BESE races on Saturday are “a great win for our reform efforts” and will add to a “BESE board that works with us.”
Both sides agree that this year’s primary and runoff results mean a Jindal and BESE alliance are clear.
“I have a feeling that the governor’s package, BESE’s package, business and pro-reform coalition are pretty aligned,” Nieland said.
Whittinghill noted that many of BESE’s new members were backed by Jindal and backers of the governor. “I would expect them to be pretty much in lock step,” Whittinghill said.