“I have prepared a bill calling for a constitutional amendment making the Louisiana Superintendent of Education elected and not appointed. It will be difficult to pass, but the people should decide who their superintendent is—not the Governor.”
—State Sen. Bob Kostelka (R-Monroe), in an email Thursday to LouisianaVoice as a result of LouisianaVoice story about plan to provide personal student information to a computer bank controlled by News Corp., owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Louisiana Voice 
I would like to congratulate Sen. Kostelko for having a spine, which seems to be rare among state legislators these days. I will certainly contact my legislators and urge support of the bill. Maybe the people of Louisiana will have better luck spotting a charlatan than the governor has had.
Charlatans are exactly the type of employee Booby looks for. The dumber the better.
Senator Kostelka is quickly becoming a role model for other legislators. He has on more than a few occasions demonstrated his good character, independence, and intelligence. Let’s follow the example of Ms. Madere (see above) and contact our legislators urging them to support Senator Kostelka’s legislation.
Generally, electing a superintendent (or a police chief) does not work. It makes a position that requires a public servant political. Georgia came off of this system a number of years ago. Before going with it, you need to find out why. If Louisiana goes to this system, which may be necessary in order to get the schools out from under the governor’s thumb, there needs to be very high qualifications for the candidates. Namely he or she must have at least 10 years of classroom experience in PUBLIC, K-12 SCHOOLS, a Masters or higher level degree IN EDUCATION, and some experience and/or certification in Special Education. Administrative experience is an asset but need not be required. Preferably, the State Superintendent should have attended public school him/herself and if he or she has school age children in his or her custody they MUST attend public schools, not charters, not parochials.
You are absolutely right, twinkie1cat. I share your concerns about the qualifications and experience when the position becomes elected. I know we elect judges – how does that work for them? Do you have to have certain education and experience requirements in order to qualify? Also, what happens if no one qualifies?
There are high qualifications for StateSuperintendent but there is Also a provision to waiver those requirements. That’s exactly what the majority of BESE members did at the direction of Governor Jindal and his political big business campaign contributors.
I hope Kostelka’s bill also eliminates the provision for the Governor to appoint three members of the BESE board. 3 of 11 is too many. I would also recommend that BESE members be certified educators as they are setting policy specifically intended to improve public education. You don’t have architects setting medical policy and patient treatment or doctors! Then again, maybe BESE members should be pointed by consortia of educators – one by district superintendents, one by classroom teachers, one by principals, one by parents etc.