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Archive for the ‘Governor’s Office’ Category

Rep. Richard has money-saving bill: cut state spending on professional, personal, consulting contracts by 10 percent

Posted in Budget, Contract, Contracts, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Revenue, State Agencies, Transparency, Waste on May 23, 2013| 23 Comments »

State Rep. Jerome “Dee” Richard believes he may have found a way in which to cut into the state budget deficit to the tune of about half-a-billion dollars.

HB-73 by Richard would require a 10 percent reduction in the total dollar amount for professional, personal and consulting service contracts under the jurisdiction of the Office of Contractual Review (OCR) for Fiscal Year 2013-14.

The proposed law also would require the OCR to submit reports on the status of the implementation of the law to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget on Oct. 1, 2013, Jan., April 1 and July 1 of 2014.
It also would require that the OCR director to submit a monthly report to the House Appropriations Committee summarizing all contracts and dollar values awarded the previous month.

The Legislative Fiscal Office (LFO) said the annual report of the OCR released in January of this year showed there were 2,284 professional, personal and consulting contracts with the state with a combined contract value of approximately $5.28 billion.

The LFO said the bill would result in an “indeterminable decrease” in overall state expenditures in FY-14. “To the extent this bill would have been enacted during the 2012 regular legislative session, the projected 10 percent reduction in the value of OCR approved professional, personal and consulting services contracts for FY-13 would have equated to approximately $528 million less,” the LFO’s fiscal notes said.

Richard’s bill would allow exceptions but only if certain conditions were met, namely:

• There were no state employees available or capable of performing the needed work;

• Required services are not available as a product of a prior or existing contract;

• There be a written plan to monitor and evaluate performance of the contract;

• The proposed contract would be determined to be a priority expenditure by the Commissioner of Administration.

Such a reduction, should it be approved and implemented, would help close a gaping budget hole of hundreds of millions of dollars for the state.

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Reports surface that DOE Superintendent John White is out the door for Washington to further validate Peter Principle

Posted in BESE, Education, Governor's Office, Recovery School District, RSD, Vouchers on May 22, 2013| 41 Comments »

In the late ‘60s psychologist Dr. Laurence J. Peter advanced what became known as the Peter Principle which said, in effect, that “In a hierarchically-structured administration, people tend to be promoted up to their level of incompetence.”

Put another way: “The cream rises until it sours.”

A good case in point, of course, would be Michael Brown, the notoriously inept head of FEMA, as evidence by his botched effort at coordinating recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Brown had previously served admirably as commissioner of judges for the International Arabian Horse Association but that job hardly prepared him for handling a job of the magnitude of major hurricane recovery efforts.

The same may be said of John White, who despite his abysmal record as Louisiana Superintendent of Education, may soon be promoted to yet a new level of incompetence.

Rumors have persisted for several days now that White would be leaving his post at the end of the current legislative session, which must adjourn by June 6.

Those rumors reached a new pitch on Wednesday with word that White would be headed “for Duncanland” in June.

For those unfamiliar with the Obama cabinet, “Duncanland” would be Washington where Arne Duncan serves as Secretary of Education.

Before joining the Obama administration, Duncan served as chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools whence controversial former Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas came.

White succeeded Vallas as RSD superintendent before being elevated to his current post by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) at the behest of Gov. Bobby Jindal in January of 2012.

BESE President Chas Roemer, contacted about the report that White was headed for Washington, said he had not heard any such report.

In White’s case, the Peter Principle could be traced from White’s minimal classroom experience as a Teach for America alumnus as well as his having attended an academy to train school superintendents whose credentials are questionable at best. That academy, the Eli Broad Academy consists of all of six weekends of classes spread over 10 months.

In recent weeks, White’s tenure has been marred by repeated courtroom setbacks over the funding formula for school vouchers, public records litigation, rejection by the legislature of BESE’s Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) formula for funding public education, and most recently, word of apparent efforts by course providers to fraudulently enroll more than 1100 students in Course Choice online classes that were to be paid for by the state from MFP funds.

It was the use of the MFP funds for that purpose that was ruled unconstitutional by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

BESE member Lottie Beebe of Breaux Bridge, a vocal opponent of both White and Roemer, said she had not heard the latest report though she acknowledged previous rumors of White’s departure.

“He is building a home in Baton Rouge,” she said by email. “If this proves true, he is acknowledging defeat. He will bail before he is fired!”

An email to White went unanswered.

Increasingly, it would appear that the cream may have risen and has now soured.

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Pylant bill would only guarantee constant revenue stream for shady Course Choice providers already circling like vultures

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, BESE, Education, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians on May 22, 2013| 15 Comments »

There have been ridiculous bills filed in the Louisiana Legislature. In fact, you can just about count on at least two or three each year.

But HB 648 by freshman Rep. Steve Pylant (R-Winnsboro) is the most asinine monument to waste and corruption in decades of wasteful and corrupt legislatures.

Even as LouisianaVoice reveals case after case of more than 1100 bogus registrations for Course Choice courses in three north Louisiana parishes, HB 648 would actually require the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to “adopt rules and regulations that require all public high school students, beginning with those entering ninth grade in the fall of 2014, to successfully complete at least one course offered by a BESE-authorized online or virtual course provider as a prerequisite to graduation.”

In the wake of what has been taking place in Caddo, Bossier and Webster parishes (and more recently in Calcasieu where it has been learned that one student not enrolled in the school listed by the student attempted to sign up for five courses and another signed up for two courses considered inappropriate for the grade level), Pylant ought to do the decent thing and withdraw his bill in the interest of saving himself further embarrassment.

His bill would accomplish precisely one thing: it would encourage even more fraud than has already taken place with course choice providers signing students to courses in those parishes without the knowledge or consent of the students or their parents.

In one case a severe and profound child was signed up for a class and in Bossier Parish, about 40 students did not attend a school in that parish as their applications indicated.

First grade students were signed up for high school Latin and high school English classes and many of the students ostensibly signed up in Bossier were registered for highly technical advanced mathematics classes.

Pylant, the retired sheriff of Franklin Parish, was elected in 2011 to the seat formerly held by Noble Ellington, who retired and was hired at a six-figure salary by the Louisiana Department of Insurance.

Ellington, the former national president of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in fact, contributed $500 of his campaign funds to Pylant in 2011.

Pylant also received more than $13,000 from the Republican Party of Louisiana, the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority, and the Republican Legislative Delegation Campaign.

He also received $2500 each from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s campaign fund and House Speaker Chuck Kleckley’s political action committee, so it’s fairly easy to see where his allegiance lies.

But that is little reason to pass legislation that will only encourage an already serious problem of fly-by-night companies signing up students only for the purpose of qualifying the course provider to receive one-half of its tuition up front—whether or not the student ever turns on his or her computer.

The State of Idaho has already been there, done that, and decided it was a bad idea. Voters in that state easily repealed Idaho’s version of Course Choice—they called it Online Learning—by a whopping 2-1 margin in a statewide referendum last November.

Course Choice easily falls under the heading of “What’s going on here?”

And what’s going on, simply put, is the continued raping of the state treasury—sanctioned by the Jindal administration.

But Pylant’s bill qualifies for “What the heck is he thinking?”

The answer to that question is anyone’s guess.

We only know one thing for certain: it’s a win-win for shady operators and a lose-lose for Louisiana taxpayers.

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In the aftermath of killer tornadoes, perhaps it’s time for another reminder to Jindal that teachers are true heroes

Posted in Education, Governor's Office on May 21, 2013| 27 Comments »

Gov. Jindal, I hope you were able to pull your attention away from your next scheme to demean state employees and teachers long enough to look at the front page of Monday’s Baton Rouge Advocate.

I hope you saw the photos.

In case you didn’t, let me clue you in.

They were teachers. What’s more, they were heroes—something about which you know precious little.

One, at the top left of Page 1, was a teacher hugging an elementary student after a killer tornado destroyed their school in Moore, Oklahoma. It mattered little that the teacher was white and the student black. What mattered was the child was alive and the relief—and concern—on that teacher’s face is enough to melt anyone’s heart, Governor. Perhaps even yours, though I somehow doubt it.

Even more graphic was the five-column photo below that one which dominated the entire front page. Two teachers, a male and a female, both bloodied, are shown leaving Briarwood Elementary after it was flattened. The man is carrying a little girl in his arms as blood trickles down his face. The woman is trailing behind, her entire face and throat covered in blood as she leads a crying little girl away from the carnage that had been her school only minutes before. Neither teacher was concerned with anything but getting those children out of the wreckage safely.

These are teachers, Governor, the very people you choose to disparage and belittle for the sake of your precious agenda of funneling education dollars to fly-by-night operators who are somehow managing to sign students up for course choice courses without their knowledge or consent.

Apparently your role models are those who can throw a few campaign dollars your way in exchange for a much bigger chunk of course content dollars.

You would never understand the emotions that flowed as Briarwood P.E. teacher Mike Murphy comforted seven-year-old Alden Stuck as he waited for his mother at the school following the tornado.

You couldn’t possibly comprehend how someone like teacher Rhonda Crosswhite could, with no thought given to her own safety, drape her own body across six students inside a Plaza Towers Elementary School bathroom stall. The significance of her heroism in a moment of raw terror is completely lost on people like you.

You prefer to seclude yourself in your fourth-floor office even as scandal envelopes the two largest state agencies—the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Education.

I tried to remind you of the folly of attacking teachers following the Sandy Hook shootings. You do remember, don’t you, Governor? School Principal Dawn Hochsprung and first-grade teacher Vicki Soto died trying to defend their students, remember?

As Crosswhite was reunited with one of the children and his mother following the tornado, the boy’s mother, Brandi Kline embraced the teacher. “Thank you so much. Thank you all the teachers that were out there,” she said.

“Just doing our job,” Crosswhite replied.

There you have it, Governor. Just doing their job. You see, the job of a teacher encompasses so much more than teaching a standardized test in order to bump scores up to please some half-baked political agenda—and to maybe save the teacher’s job from some clueless state superintendent’s ever-changing Value Added Model of teacher evaluation.

And unlike you, Governor, teachers aren’t missing days from work looking for their next gig. They’re far too dedicated to doing the job for which they were hired.

Dedication. That’s something you could never understand.

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DOE agrees to pay legal costs and late fees for not producing records in settlement of LouisianaVoice’s public records suit

Posted in BESE, Education, Governor's Office, Public Records, Transparency on May 13, 2013| 50 Comments »

We tried repeatedly to warn the Louisiana Department of Education (DOE) and Education Superintendent John White:

• Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2013 7:55 PM
To: john.white@la.gov; joan.hunt@la.gov
Subject: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST

I should not have to remind you that you are answerable to the people of this state whether or not you like it, whether or not you like me personally, or whether or not these records cast you in a bad light. The fact is, you have no recourse but to comply with the laws of the State of Louisiana—or suffer financial penalties as a result of litigation.

• Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2013 7:55 PM
To: john.white@la.gov; joan.hunt@la.gov
Subject: FIRST FOLLOWUP ON PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST (COPIED TO ATTORNEY J. ARTHUR SMITH)

Should you attempt to prevent disclosure of any of the documents requested by any method, including a claim of deliberative process, or by saying the records do not exist and I subsequently come into possession of these documents (as I most certainly will, though it may take time), I will pursue all legal means available to me against the department, John White and any other individual who takes part in such a ruse.

• Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:42 AM
To: john.white@la.gov; joan.hunt@la.gov; troy.humphrey@la.gov; ‘jason.hannaman@la.gov’
Subject: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST

Pursuant to the Public Records Act of Louisiana (R.S. 44:1 et seq.), I respectfully request the following information:

Please provide me the opportunity to review each of the multiple layoff plans submitted to Civil Service by the Louisiana Department of Education that are currently awaiting consideration by the Civil Service Commission.

Also, remember there is no such thing as a “three-day” deadline to produce records; they are to be provided immediately under statute, subject to penalties of $100 per day and the meter is already running on several other requests.

• Sent: Monday, May 06, 2013 4:25 PM
To: joan.hunt@la.gov; troy.humphrey@la.gov; john.white@la.gov
Subject: PUBLIC RECORD REQUEST

I would remind you that the Louisiana public records laws are quite specific about the time you are allowed to respond to this request. There is no “three day waiting period” as some believe. Please do not try to delay release of these public records.

On most occasions, it is generally accepted that one should be a gracious winner by exhibiting the customary display of humility and sportsmanship.

This is not one of those times.

Repeated attempts at obtaining what are clearly public records from White and his DOE have met with obstacles and frustrations ranging from denials that requested records exist to interminable—and illegal—delays to simply having our requests ignored.

There were other similar requests likes the ones listed above, accompanied by similar warnings of potential legal action—many others.

Finally, our patience worn thin, LouisianaVoice filed suit a couple of weeks ago.

What followed was, in the approximate order:

• The setting of a trial date of Monday, May 13 (today) by 19th Judicial District Judge Janice Clark;

• A flurry of responses to numerous long overdue records requests from DOE as if to say late compliance equated to full compliance (it doesn’t);

• A status conference last Friday (May 10) at which Judge Clark made known her intent to enforce the letter of the law regarding the state’s public records laws;

• DOE’s sudden show of repentance and an offer to settle the matter out of court;

• A final settlement approved by Judge Clark in court on Monday.

The lawsuit was a no-brainer from the get-go. The public records law is quite specific as to what is public record and the responsibilities of the custodian of the record(s) to make said record(s) available upon the appearance of any Louisiana citizen 18 years of age or older so requesting any public record(s).

Should a record not be available or in use at the time of the request, the custodian must notify the person making the request in writing as to when, within three days, the record shall be available for inspection.

The Division of Administration (DOA) on one of our recent visits was apparently not so clear on that point. A spokesperson for DOA assured LouisianaVoice that it had three days to make the record available. Not so. Take note of that, Kristy Nichols (Commissioner of Administration) and DOA legal counsel David Boggs; it may come up again.

The custodian must make the record(s) available for inspection and may charge up to 25 cents per page for any copies the requestor may want. The requestor, however, is not required to purchase copies he/she does not want. Moreover, should the requestor possess a portable scanner, he/she is free to copy as many pages as he/she likes into his/her scanner at no charge (First Commerce Title Co., Inc. v. Martin, Second Circuit Court of Appeal, 2005). The legal eagles in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office might wish to make note of that so they don’t repeat that mistake.

And just in case you might be wondering, here are the terms of our settlement with White and DOE:

• The Department of Education must make available by close of business on Friday, May 17, 2013, all outstanding requests for public records from LouisianaVoice and Tom Aswell, including a list of DOE employees who are alumni of the New Teacher Project, Teach for America and/or the Eli Broad Academy—information DOE previously said it did not have;

• DOE must pay all court costs incurred by LouisianaVoice and Tom Aswell;

• DOE must pay the attorney fees for J. Arthur Smith, legal counsel for LouisianaVoice and Tom Aswell;

• DOE must pay $100 per day for each day that it was late in responding to each request for public records made by LouisianaVoice and Tom Aswell.

Altogether, the attorney fees, court costs and $100 fines come to about $6300.

That’s $6300 of your money the Louisiana Department of Education and John White could have saved state taxpayers simply by complying with the state’s public records laws.

We can’t help it. Sometimes you earn the right to gloat and be a little smug, sportsmanship and protocal be damned.

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