Gov. Jindal backs voucher expansion

23rd January 2012   ·   0 Comments

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writer

In a speech last Tuesday, Governor Bobby Jindal outlined a plan that would make 380,000 local income students in Louisiana eligible for publicly funded scholarships to attend private or parochial schools.

This would constitute the most ambitious expansion of school vouchers in the United States, and would go far beyond initial expectations that the scholarship program would be limited to campuses taken over by the State-run Recovery School District.

Children up to 250 percent of the poverty level will be able to have current per student public school funding follow them to a public, private, or parochial school under the proposal. Both parish and state education monies would follow the student under the plan. However, only eligible are students that attend schools which receive a “C,” “D,” or “F” under the state’s newly expanded classification system — a measuring method that relies heavily on LEAP Test results given to 4th and 8th gra­ders.

While Or­leans Par­ish sch­ools that re­ceived a score equi­valent to a “C” were taken over by the RSD after Hurricane Katrina, subsequently, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) set subsequent takeovers generally at what would be amount to the “D” ranking. As such, the Governor’s proposal would massive expand school options for students into parishes where the RSD does not currently operate.

Jindal announced his proposal last Tuesday morning, January 17, 2011, at an annual meeting of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, a room filled with conservative, pro-business allies of the Governor many of whom worked tirelessly to win a pro-voucher majority on BESE Board during last year’s elections.

The Governor framed the reforms in his half hour speech as key to the survival of Louisiana’s economy, a message that played well in the room CEO’s and corporate executives. He compared the Pelican State’s current primary and secondary educational system to a dysfunctional business.

Jindal also advocated ending automatic annual pay raises for teachers and granting superintendents the authority to both hire and terminate employment. Teachers’ unions and school boards have fought those proposals in the past, and attempts in the last legislative session to shift authority from school boards to superintendents died.

The state’s new Superintendent of Education, John White, is said to be in support of the proposals, as is the majority of the BESE Board. No word as of yet if RSD Interim Superintendent Patrick Dobard also agrees, though, his appointment came at the behest of White.

Politically, to pass his sweeping reforms, Jindal must engage members of the Legislative Black Caucus, and sway at least a handful of Democratic votes to assure himself of stable two-thirds supermajorities. Normally, the Governor could count on at least African-American House member. State Rep. Austin Badon helped author Louisiana’s initial voucher proposal that currently gives 1,800 Orleans school children access to private educations.

Badon is on record supporting vouchers, and the Governor’s decision to limit access to students’ with parents making less than 250 percent of the poverty rate, matches past proposals that Badon himself has floated. However, Jindal’s move to strip the New Orleans East State Rep. of his Chairmanship of the House Education Committee, over Badon’s opposition to the SUNO-UNO merger, may endanger that automatic cooperation.

And, if feelings of betrayal may not be enough for Badon to avoid vocalizing his pro-voucher stance, his race for New Orleans Council At-Large may very well be. Badon is attempting to gain a runoff slot in the March 24 Council At-Large primary, facing Cynthia Willard-Lewis and Eugene Green, in the race to succeed Arnie Fielkow. Both Afri­can-American contenders have accused the legislator of being “out of touch” with Black families in New Orleans, a dangerous charge considering that most political observers believe that Stacy Head has already locked up much of the Caucasian vote.

Badon has often responded to such charges as his “voucher support is un-African-American,” with the polling data that over two-thirds of Black parents support the idea of publically-funded scholarships to private or parochial schools.

Still, in a competitive contest, Badon may not wish to take a lead on a key Jindal legislative priority. The governor does not rank as the most popular figure for Orleans Parish African-American voters.

This article was originally published in the January 23, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper