By Dayne Sherman
One of the greatest mysteries of Louisiana politics is a recent phenomenon: The Recovery School District.
The RSD, created under Governor Kathleen Blanco in 2003, began as a way for the state to wrest control of “failing” schools from local districts. Now it serves as the model for Governor Bobby Jindal’s unwise education “reform” agenda.
Let’s address some key facts about this failed agenda. According to the latest Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) District Rankings Based on 2011 District Performance Score, the RSD is the second worst district in the State of Louisiana. It is ranked number 61 out of 62 districts listed. Zachary School District is ranked first, and St. Helena Parish is last.
According to the LDOE’s own ranking, the Failed RSD is a district at the very bottom of Louisiana education achievement, and Louisiana as a whole is at the very bottom of the U.S., and this makes Superintendent John White’s model district one of the worst school districts in the developed world.
Please don’t forget, White was head of the RSD before he was promoted to State Superintendent. This alone is a scandal.
Sponsored by Louisiana Progress and the Daily Star, an Education Policy Forum was held in Hammond on January 29th. While at that forum, which was well-attended by concerned citizens, I had the misfortune of asking panelist John Ayers, Executive Director of Tulane’s University’s Cowen Institute, about the Failed RSD and the fraud of Bobby Jindal’s education “reform” scheme.
What proceeded from Ayers was a series of arrogant statements with no connection to the real facts. It was Jindal-White education “reform” spin faster than a new Maytag.
First, Ayers denied that the RSD was indeed a failed district or even one of the worst in the state. But he never countered the data as stated above using the LDOE’s own District Performance Score.
Second, his chief argument for showing the vitality of the RSD was that New Orleans has half of the number of failing schools now than they did prior to Hurricane Katrina.
Nice spin, Mr. Ayers. But New Orleans has about half the student population. It sure makes claiming victory easy.
Third, Ayers bloviated about the great parent satisfaction of the charter schools. However, that very night, parents from across the country and New Orleans appealed to the U.S. Department of Education about the civil rights violations of such education programs.
Fourth, later during the forum Ayers denied that the goal of the charter school movement was to make money for corporations. This, however, is a fairy tale. Just last week, an expose from In the Public Interest was released with thousands of e-mails showing that Jeb Bush’s pro-charter educational foundation was all about benefiting its corporate funders, not the children.
The Failed RSD is not a miracle. It is only magic, a sleight of hand shell game run by corporate profiteers and their well paid lackeys. The taxpayers, parents, and school children of Louisiana deserve better than the Cowen Institutes duplicitous spin.
The Failed RSD, the Cowen Institute, John White, and Governor Jindal’s unconstitutional education “reform” package are a disgrace.
Louisiana would do well to find a better approach to education “reform” and better people to lead our state.
(Dayne Sherman lives in Ponchatoula)
Great job Dayne! I am fascinated with the Jindalites use of numbers and mystifying meaning of the numbers. They are great at lying or pandering to the ignorant and prejudice. Jindal’s remarks about the GOP being the Stupid party and then follows up with we do not want 47% percent of the vote, we want 100%, is an example. keep calling them out, ron
This column reminds me of a quote Mark Twain used. “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The depressing fact is that most BESE members and legialators believe Jindal/White falsehoods, or they know the truth; then, they go along because they have a financial interest in this bait and switch scheme.
Louisiana, where the Twilight Zone takes place inside the Bermuda Triangle. It’s horrific just how bad you all are screwed down there.
I would say “don’t blame it on us”, but that’s exactly who is to blame: the folks who voted for him and then reelected him. 😦
Some interesting quotes from the new Cowen Institute Report titled “Spotlight on Choice.” One of the best is “Based on the focus group discussions, we conclude that, due to limited seats at high quality schools and a complicated application process, school choice in New Orleans currently does an inadequate job providing all parents with access to the best schools for their children.” Doesn’t really sound like the miracle Jindal and White have been claiming, does it? And another is “the most important decision-making factor, above all else, was a school’s reputation among the parent’s community based on word of mouth.” How interesting. To hear the “reformers” talking about school reform, parents were eagerly awaiting “School Performance Scores” and the infamous “Letter Grades.” Apparently they didn’t think much of these. Finally, for parents of children with special needs “For focus group participants who had children with special education needs, the difficulties could be overwhelming.” Nice to know the RSZD is taking care of everyone. To see the report go to http://bit.ly/TruthOut4
The RSD was created under Mike Foster, not Kathleen Blanco. Blanco was campaigning against Bobby Jindal at the time. Blanco was elected in late 2003, but Foster was still Governor until Jan. 2004