If you are a school teacher in Louisiana or if you have a teacher in your family, here are nine names you should remember next October when voters march to the polls to elect a governor, 39 state senators and 105 state representatives:
- Nancy Landry (R-Lafayette), landryn@legis.la.gov
- Stephen Carter (R-Baton Rouge), carters@legis.la.gov
- Beryl Amedee (R-Houma), amedeeb@legis.la.gov
- Rick Edmonds (R-Baton Rouge), edmondsr@legis.la.gov
- Julie Emerson (R-Carencro), emersonj@legis.la.gov
- Reid Falconer (R-Mandeville), falconerr@legis.la.gov
- Stephanie Hilferty (R-Metairie), hilfertys@legis.la.gov
- Scott Simon (R-Abita Springs), simons@legis.la.gov
- Polly Thomas (R-Metairie), thomaspj@legis.la.gov
These are the nine members of the House Education Committee who yanked $39 million from local school districts—money that could have gone to supplement an already insulting pay raise for teachers, provide classroom supplies and help absorb increases in health insurance premiums.
Oh, and just in case you’d like to thank them, here are the five who voted to keep the $39 million in the Minimum Foundation Plan as adopted by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE):
- Walt Leger (D-New Orleans), legerw@legis.la.gov
- Gary Carter (D-New Orleans), carterg@legis.la.gov
- Joseph Bouie (D-New Orleans), bouiej@legis.la.gov
- Ken Brass (D-Vacherie), brassk@legis.la.gov
- Patricia Haynes Smith (D-Baton Rouge), smithp@legis.la.gov
The $101 million for teacher pay raises (safe, for the moment) and the $39 million for local school districts were pat of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ plan to move Louisiana back to the Southern Regional Average.
Instead, the nine Republicans, led by committee chairperson Landry voted to send the MFP back to BESE with a request to cut the $39 million for local school districts.
Landry, who has been less than a friend to public education throughout her legislative career, was steadfast, stating from the start she was going to make the recommendation to send the MFP plan back to BESE.
Edmonds, in an attempt to give credence to Landry’s position, raised the point that Louisiana spends $12,153 per student which he said was $3,000 more than Texas and $2,000 more than Florida. He managed to get Superintendent of Education John White to acknowledge that the state ranks 46th in efficiency of funds spent on students.
And while saying there will likely be no new funds for early childhood education, Edmonds somehow managed to overlook the fact that Texas pays its state legislators $7,200 per year, less than ONE-THIRD of the $22,800 for Louisiana legislators.
That’s right: Louisiana spends $10,000 more per year on legislators to come to Baton Rouge to hobnob with lobbyists, to enjoy sumptuous meals at Sullivan’s and Ruth’s Chris than it does to education our children.
Let that sink in: $22,800 per legislator for a part-time job (and if they have to travel to Baton Rouge or anywhere else on state business, they get $164 per diem, plus travel expenses).
At the same time, we spend $12,153 per student.
It’d be pretty interesting to find a ranking of the state’s “efficiency of funds spent” on legislators.
Louisiana’s students are the second-poorest in the nation, White said, ahead of only Mississippi.
But what’s important is the tons of additional REVENUE many legislators earn as attorneys, accountants, etc., representing state and local governments. There are literally more hidden perks to being a legislator than could be listed here—and I have unlimited space.
But I digress. Landry, in order to bolster her disdain for public education in general and Gov. Edwards in particular, even called on Appropriations Committee Chairman Cameron Henry (R-Metairie) to address her committee on the $39 million proposal.
In case you might not be aware, if Henry had an alias, it would be: “Dedicated political enemy of John Bel Edwards, no matter what Edwards might propose.”
So, what it all boiled down to was the Republicans in the legislator led by Henry and Speaker Taylor Barras (R-New Iberia), unable to block the pay raises of $1,000 per year for teachers and $500 per year for support staff, were damn sure going to throw up as many roadblocks as they could for any additional funding for teachers—even at the cost of depriving local school districts desperately needed funds for resources and salaries.
At a press conference at the conclusion of Tuesday’s committee meeting, the Louisiana Public School Coalition urged BESE to stand firm on its MFP proposal and to push legislators approve it as is.
White showed how political loyalties can shift, even at full throttle. First appointed by Bobby Jindal and reappointed during the Edwards administration, he said, “The previous administration swung and missed badly” at early childhood education.
Even more revealing that the fate of the $39 million was sealed well in advance was the participation—or lack thereof—of committee members. Each of the five Democrats asked several relevant questions and made valid points while fewer than half of the nine Republicans had a word to say during discussion of a pretty important piece of legislation. And those who did speak, like Edmonds, did so only as a means of supporting Landry’s motion.
The others were strangely mute—almost as if they already had their marching orders from Landry, Henry and Barras.
And that’s how democracy in the gret stet of Looziana works.
Actually your analysis of the $12,153 figure touted by Rep. Edmonds is even more off than you even realize. The State does not spend $12,153 per pupil. That figure includes State, local and federal funds expended on public education in LA. If the State were spending $12,153 X 700,000 students the State MFP would be $8.5B, simple math. The State MFP is about $3.8B for about 700,000 students which is about $5400 per pupil. However, because of the State has chosen to fund its obligation to state mandated retirement systems through the MFP, about $1B of the $3.8B is merely a pass through, which school districts send to the state retirement systems over which the districts have no control, instead of using those dollars to educate students. Taking that into account, the State funding for the education of children is, actually, about $4545 per pupil. Note that many charter schools do not have to participate in the retirement system so they get to keep the entire $5400 per pupil. Interestingly, because they do get State MFP dollars, the Charter School Assn joined with every other witness, including BESE, school districts, teachers and administrators, to urge the adoption of the MFP. A final note, since 2015, local taxes have contributed more toward public school funding than the State budget. For a Legislator to try to take credit for billions in funding wholly unrelated to the State points to the absurdity of the actions of the House Education Comm. in rejecting a mere $39M in increased State funding.
Excellent points.
Ditto!!!!!
One dependable thing about Republicans is that they all stick together. We need to understand the glue that holds them together and makes their political party more important than the good of our State. Whatever it is, we need to apply some “glue skills solvent” and get rid of them.
That glue that binds republicans is of a certain brand. That brand is “Reprehensible” as in Reprehensible Morality. Political Party Power before People. And as for the Golden Rule, Reprehensibles don’t even know it exists.
And the beat goes on…Politics above everything except, of course, special interest campaign money and entertainment – fortunately for our legislators, the 2 go together. On the flip side, this is not often so fortunate for rest of us – the people they were elected to represent.
I don’t know if any of the Dems on the committee raised the issue of local support, but it is important to remember what the term “Minimum Foundation” means, or is supposed to mean. The way it is supposed to work (and does in some other states) is that the state provides an equitable amount to each school district to provide a foundation upon which to build total support via local revenues. Check out the property taxes in Texas and the other states with successful public education and see where they go.