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Michigan latest to attempt implementation of ALEC-inspired school reform identical to Louisiana’s–even cloning the RSD

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, BESE, Charters, Education, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Privatization, Recovery School District, RSD, Vouchers on November 29, 2012| 3 Comments »

At the risk of sounding like one of those freaky conspiracists who wear tinfoil hats and insist we never really landed on the moon, recent events in the state of Michigan have a familiar—and ominous—ring.

The creation of the Education Achievement Authority (EAA) in that state is eerily akin to Louisiana’s Recovery School District (RSD) and certainly lends support to the theory that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is behind a national move to turn public schools into for-profit corporate entities with little or no public accountability.

We will return to the Michigan developments presently but first, some background.

The combination of vouchers, charters and computer courses are being promoted by the administration at the expense of public education funding—again, with no accountability built into the so-called “reforms.”

The RSD, which pre-dates the voucher and online courses, for a time was under the leadership void of Paul Vallas, then under equally inept State Superintendent John White and most recently under Patrick Dobard. No matter who heads it up, the RSD has proved a smashing failure and a gaping dark hole into which state revenues seem to vanish.

Vallas, during his tenure, took a state vehicle on personal business to Chicago on more than 30 occasions. On one of those trips, he appeared on a Chicago television station where he announced that he would run for mayor. He never became a candidate and the personal use of the state vehicle for the out-of-state trips was not discovered until he wrecked the vehicle in Chicago.

He also hired cronies from his previous tenures at education departments in Chicago and Philadelphia.

State audits of the RSD have turned up numerous irregularities and there were problems with a private transportation company receiving payment for busing students for the district. The RSD received still another black eye over reports of sexual activity between students at the school, prolonged teacher absences from classrooms (classes reported went unsupervised for weeks at a time) and chargers of attempted bribery. The LDOE official who reported the incidents and his supervisor were summarily fired.

And now comes a report by an outfit called Research on Reforms that reveals that each of the 12 RSD-New Orleans direct-run schools and 38 (79 percent) of the 48 RSD-New Orleans charter schools received 2012 school performance scores (SPS) of “D” or “F.”

The precise definition of a “failing school,” however, has remained in a state of flux since 2005, says the report, entitled Recovery School District in New Orleans: National Model for Reform or District in Academic Crisis.

“The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) has continuously revised its definition and labels of ‘failing’ schools to the extent that it is difficult to follow the real progress of any school historically,” it said. “It is imperative that the reader visit the historical state legislative actions that resulted in the creation of the RSD-NO and the disenfranchisement of the citizens in New Orleans in order to determine whether or not the RSD has failed in its commitment to public school students in New Orleans.”

And now Jindal’s education reform packages are tied up in state and federal courts.

In Tangipahoa Parish, a federal judge has already ruled against the state in a lawsuit that could be a precursor to legal problems for the entire Jindal education package passed earlier this year by the legislature.

U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle ruled that Acts 1 and 2 of the 2012 legislative session were in violation of a desegregation consent decree currently in effect in Tangipahoa and could have implications for other districts in the state under similar orders.

Lemelle said the acts would “impair or impede” the parish’s ability to comply with federal desegregation laws and that more than 40 other school districts across the state that are under similar agreements could also be affected.

Education Department officials indicated the ruling will be appealed.

On Wednesday of this week, trial kicked off in 19th District Court in Baton Rouge in a lawsuit brought against LDOE by the state’s two largest teacher unions and dozens of local school boards.

The plaintiffs are claiming that Act 2, which created the school voucher system and Senate Concurrent Resolution 99, which is the state’s Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) for funding public education, were unconstitutional.

The argue that the voucher system diverts local funds for purposes for which they were never approved by taxpayers and that the MFP resolution, approved on June 4, the last day of the session, failed to obtained the constitutionally-mandated two-thirds vote because the resolution resulted in a “fiscal impact,” which requires a two-thirds vote.

House Speaker Chuck “the Eunuch” Kleckley (R-Lake Charles) and state attorney Jimmy Faircloth maintain there was no fiscal impact, thus allowing for passage by a simple majority of members present and voting. For the full 105-member House, 53 votes are required for a simple majority. A two-thirds majority would require 70 of 105 votes.

The Legislative Fiscal Office, which is charged with reviewing legislative bills for fiscal impact, disagreed, saying there was a fiscal impact, which reinforced plaintiffs’ arguments.

The resolution passed 51-49, a simple majority of the 100 members present and voting. Sixty-seven votes would have been needed for a two-thirds vote.

There are a couple of interesting twists in the voucher lawsuit in state district court. Faircloth, who is representing the state, contributed $1,000 on Oct. 24 to Judge Kelley’s unsuccessful campaign for the State Supreme Court.

Kelley, meanwhile, is married to Angele Davis, who served as Jindal’s commissioner of administration for the first two and one-half years of his administration.

All of which brings us back to our conspiracy involving the state of Michigan specifically and any number of states in general that either have implemented or are attempting to implement similar programs.

Rob Glass, Superintendent of Bloomfield Hills Schools, it not waiting for the axe to fall; he has issued a call to action to fight pending legislation that would put into place programs strikingly similar to those currently the subject of litigation here in Louisiana.

The legislative proposals in Michigan have prompted critics to ask if that state’s EAA is establishing “a statewide school reform district on the fast track?” That same question is now being raised in Louisiana but unlike Michigan, it is being asked here in hindsight.

The observation Glass made to LouisianaVoice on Thursday is even more to the point: “There is no question in my mind that this is all part of the ALEC game plan. What we’re seeing in Michigan either has been played out or is being played out in other states and the proposals in all the states are identical,” he said.

The demographic profile of Bloomfield Hills is in stark contrast to that of New Orleans and most of Louisiana.

Bloomfield Hills is a city located in the heart of metro Detroit’s affluent northern suburbs in Oakland County. Located 20 miles northwest of downtown Detroit, the city, with a population of less than 4,000, has consistently ranked as one of the five wealthiest cities in the U.S. with comparable populations. Its median family income in excess of $200,000 per year is the highest of any city outside California, Florida or Virginia.

“If we do not take immediate action, I believe great damage will be done to public education, including our school system,” Glass said in his Nov. 28 call to action. “We have just three weeks to take action before it’s too late,” he said of four bills pending in the current legislative session in Michigan.

The bills are:

• House Bill 6004 and Senate Bill 1358 would expand the EAA, presently consisting of 15 Detroit schools, to a statewide system overseen by a chancellor appointed by the governor and which would function outside the authority of the State Board of Education of state school superintendent. “These schools are exempt from the same laws and quality measures of community-governed public schools,” Glass said. “The EAA can seize unused school buildings (built and financed by local taxpayers) and force sale or lease to charter, non-public or EAA schools.”

• House Bill 5923 would create several new forms of charter and online schools with no limit on the number, many of which would be created by EAA. “Public schools are not allowed to create these new schools unless they charter them,” Glass said. “Selective enrollment/dis-enrollment policies will likely lead to greater segregation in our public schools. This bill creates new schools without changing the overall funding available, further diluting resources for community-governed public schools.”

• Senate Bill 620 known as the “Parent Trigger” bill, this would allow the lowest-achieving 5 percent of schools to be converted to a charter school while allowing parents or teachers to petition for the desired reform model. “This bill…disenfranchises voters, ends their local control and unconstitutionally hands taxpayer-owned property over to for-profit companies,” he said. “Characterized as parent-empowerment, this bill does little to develop deep, community-wide parent engagement and organization.”

Glass said he has never considered himself a conspiracy theorist—until now. “This package of bills is the latest in a year-long barrage of ideologically-driven bills designed to weaken and defund locally-controlled public education, handing scarce taxpayer dollars over to for-profit entities operating under a different set of rules,” he said. “I believe this is fundamentally wrong.”

He said that he, State School Superintendent Mike Flanagan and State Board of Education President John Austin, along with the Detroit Free Press, have expressed various concerns about the bills.

“This is not a laissez faire plea to defend the status quo (a favorite accusation leveled at educators by Jindal). This is about making sure this tidal wave of untested legislation does not sweep away the valued programs our local community has proudly built into its cherished school system,” Glass said.

A familiar and ominous ring indeed…

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π-yush keeps communication lines open with talking points and voting instructions via text messages to legislators even during committee meetings and floor debates on key bills

Posted in Ethics, Governor's Office, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, OGB, Office of Group Benefits, Politicians, Transparency on November 28, 2012| 10 Comments »

When State Rep. Joe Harrison (R-Gray) was removed from his seat on the House Appropriations Committee earlier this month by Piyush Jindal through his surrogate, House Speaker Chuck “The Eunuch” Kleckley (R-Lake Charles), he offered an interesting revelation about the way the administration micromanages the legislative process.

“Everything they (legislative committees) do is scripted,” Harrison said in an interview with LouisianaVoice hours after his demotion. “I’ve seen the scripts. They hand out a list of questions we are allowed to ask and they tell us not to deviate from the list and not to ask questions that are not in the best interest of the administration.”

Harrison’s comments were made in the heat of the aftermath of his smack down by Piyush for having the temerity to vote against The-Man-Who-Would-Be-Vice-President (or at least a Romney cabinet member) on the proposed contract that called for Blue Cross/Blue Shield to become the third party administrator for the Office of Group Benefit’s (OGB) Preferred Provider Organization (PPO).

Strong words to be sure, but now they have been corroborated by yet another legislator who shall remain nameless for the time being though we will go so far as to acknowledge that the lawmaker is not a member of Jindal’s political party.

Not that that seems to matter, given the events that occurred in the wake of the surprising defeat of Republican president candidate Mitt Romney on Nov. 6.

Jindal turned on Romney like the self-serving hypocrite he is. (Well, after all, he never got his 30 pieces of silver—read: a cabinet appointment in the anticipated Romney administration—so why not?)

When we asked our legislator friend (we’ll just call him Kyle) if Harrison was accurate in claiming that committee members are given questions by administrative officials in advance of committee hearings, he responded with a quick, “Absolutely.”

But then he continued. “Not only that but they text committee members during committee meetings and even send text messages to legislators during floor debates on bills in the House and Senate telling them how to vote on certain bills.

“They’ll also send text messages to legislators instructing them to speak for or against a bill and even tell him or her on what to say and they’ll pop up out of their chair and immediately rush to the floor microphone,” Kyle said.

He said he occasionally speaks to school groups about how the legislative process is designed to work. “I always leave laughing at myself for trying to tell the kids that we have three branches of government—the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.

“We no longer have a legislative branch of government in Louisiana; we’re (the legislature) just an extension of the executive branch.

“The sad part is we have only ourselves to blame. When I say we, I mean the legislature as a body, not as individuals because there are some members who will stand up to Jindal when they feel he is wrong. But the legislature—the House and the Senate—have capitulated to the fourth floor and I lay the fault at the feet of our leadership, the Speaker Kleckley and Senate President John Alario (R-Westwego).

“They are both likeable men, very personable, but Alario’s looking out for Alario. If you don’t believe that, take a look at the Capital Outlay Bill and see how many projects are in it for Jefferson Parish. It’s loaded down with Jefferson projects and Alario wants to keep it that way,” he said.

He said he also did not understand the motivations of Sen. Jack Donahue (R-Mandeville). “Here is a state senator who had a state mental hospital in his district (Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville) closed by the governor who gave him no advance warning of his intentions and yet, as chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, he did exactly what Jindal told him to do and steamrolled the Blue Cross/Blue Shield contract with OGB down everyone’s throat.”

Harrison and our friend Kyle weren’t the only ones to reveal the ongoing instructions to legislators. Yet another source (not a member of the legislature) said he witnessed a legislator receiving text messages from the governor’s office even as he testified not before a legislative committee, but before the New Orleans City Council. “They were letting him know they didn’t like what he was saying in his testimony,” the second unnamed source said.

LouisianaVoice sent separate emails to Piyush Press Pontificator Kyle (no relation) Plotkin and to Chief of Staff Paul Rainwater asking just two simple questions:

• Does the administration think it is appropriate to micromanage the legislative process in this manner?

• Would this (practice) not blur the lines between the executive and legislative branches of government?

We never receive an acknowledgement of either email.

Ah, transparency and accountability. Where would we be without ‘em?

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A report π-yush probably won’t post on the state’s web site: Louisiana is 10th worst-run state in the nation. Who knew?

Posted in Economy, Governor's Office, Higher Education, Legislature, Legislators, Politicians, Prison on November 27, 2012| 4 Comments »

Piyush Jindal loves to regurgitate reports that tell of Louisiana’s wonderful business climate (with all but non-existent corporate taxes, cheap labor and a glut of laid-off state employees looking for work, why would the climate not be pro-business?) but here’s a report we aren’t likely to hear him say much about or post on the state web page as is his custom when the reports are favorable.

Louisiana has the 10th worst-run state government in the nation, according to a study just released by 24/7 Wall Street, an independent research company.

While acknowledging that measuring the successful management of a state is difficult, 24/7, which each year conducts an extensive survey of all 50 states, considered data from a number of sources. These included Standard & Poor’s, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Tax Foundation, Realty Trac, the FBI, and the National Conference of State Legislators.

Once all the data were extrapolated, each state was ranked on the basis of its performance in all categories, the study’s methodology report said.

“A state with abundant natural resources should have an easier time balancing its budget than one starved for resources,” the study said. “Despite this, it is the responsibility of each state to deal with the resources at its disposal. Each government must anticipate economic shifts and diversify its industries and attract new business.”

Those are particularly damning observations insofar as Louisiana’s ongoing fiscal crisis is concerned. Massive budget cuts have gutted the operations of many state agencies. Higher education, for example, once received two-thirds of its budget from state appropriations and the rest from tuition. That is completely reversed today as tuition increases of some 40 percent over the past several years coupled with budgetary cuts now has tuition providing two-thirds of all revenue for higher ed.

Another general criticism of poorly-run states that well may have been addressed specifically to Louisiana and the Piyush administration said, “A state should be able to raise enough revenue to ensure the safety of its citizens and minimize hardship without spending more than it can prudently afford. Some states have historically done this much better than others,” it said.

Piyush has steadfastly refused to consider any efforts to raise additional revenue, including tax increases. Instead, he has consistently pushed for more liberal tax incentives for businesses, a policy that has cost the state up to $5 billion per year, according to official estimates.

The 24/7 report cites North Dakota as the best-run state in the nation, the first time it has received that distinction. As of August of this year, North Dakota was the second-largest oil producer in the nation because of the use of hydraulic fracturing in the state Bakken shale formation.

The oil and gas boom brought jobs to the state, whose 3.5 percent unemployment rate was the country’s lowest in 2011.

North Dakota and Montana (the 18th best-run) were the only states that have not reported budget shortfalls since fiscal 2009.

Louisiana, on the other hand, earned its 10th worst-managed state on the basis of having:

• The 26th largest budget deficit (14.3 percent);

• The seventh lowest median household income ($41,734);

• The third highest percentage of its citizens living below the poverty line (20.4 percent);

• The 10th smallest proportion of its budget dedicated to social welfare due in large part to a lack of tax revenue (and this was before the latest round of budget cuts, including Medicaid);

• One of the highest violent crime rates in the nation (New Orleans had the highest murder rate in 2011);

• The 20th highest debt per capita.

Louisiana’s ranking as the 10th worst-run state puts it just ahead of Mississippi, the 11th worst, the report indicates. Mississippi had the lowest median household income ($36,919) in the nation, the country’s highest percentage of people living below the poverty line (22.6 percent), and the country’s fourth highest unemployment rate (10.7 percent).

California, with the second highest unemployment rate (11.7 percent) ranked as the worst-run state in the nation despite having the 10th highest median household income ($52,287.

Following are the 10 best-run states and some of the factors that got them their high rankings, according to 24/7:

1. North Dakota (lowest unemployment rate);

2. Wyoming (sixth lowest percentage of families living below poverty line);

3. Nebraska (second lowest in both unemployment and per capita debt);

4. Utah (11th lowest unemployment rate, tied for 17th lowest percentage living below poverty line);

5. Iowa (7th lowest per capita debt, 6th lowest unemployment rate);

6. Alaska (second highest median household income, 4th lowest percentage living below poverty line);

7. South Dakota (3rd lowest unemployment rate);

8. Vermont (5th lowest unemployment rate, 7th lowest percentage living below poverty line);

9. Virginia (7th highest in median household income, 7th lowest percentage living in poverty);

10. Minnesota (13th lowest per capita debt, 11th highest median household income, 10th lowest percentage living in poverty);

….and here are the 10 worst-run states, along with some of the reasons for their less than desirable standings:

41. Louisiana (20th highest per capita debt, 7th lowest median household income) 3rd highest percentage living in poverty);

42. Florida (tied for 6th highest unemployment rate);

43. South Carolina (8th highest unemployment rate, 9th lowest median household income, 9th highest percentage living in poverty);

44. New Mexico (8th lowest median household income, 2nd highest percentage living in poverty);

45. Nevada (largest budget deficit in nation, highest unemployment rate in nation);

46. New Jersey (5th highest per capita debt, 4th highest budget deficit, 13th highest unemployment rate);

47. Arizona (3rd largest budget deficit, 13th highest unemployment rate, 8th highest percentage in poverty);

48. Illinois (11th highest per capita debt, 2nd largest budget deficit, 10th highest unemployment rate);

49. Rhode Island (3rd highest debt per capita, 3rd highest unemployment rate);

50. California (2nd highest unemployment rate, 18th highest percentage living in poverty).

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Governor's Office, Notable Quotables on November 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“…Some of them were already talking to our transition (team) to position themselves for a Romney cabinet.”

—Romney foreign policy adviser Dan Senor (who is the son-in-law of former Secretary of State and State Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown), on the overt solicitation of a cabinet position in the expected Romney administration by Louisiana Gov. Piyush Jindal who at the same time was insisting (fooling no one in the process) that he had the job he wanted.

“They were on television, it was unbelievable; it was five, six days later, absolutely eviscerating him. Now they’re calling him a bum. Real profiles in courage.”

—Senor, in that same interview with London’s Daily Mail, referring to Piyush Jindal and New Gingrich, both of whom turned on Romney following the election.

“Craven hypocrites.”

—Senor, on Piyush Jindal and Newt Gingrich.

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π-yush gets taste of his own medicine as Romney aide and former LA. politician’s son-in-law blasts ‘craven hypocrisy’ of political opportunist who shamelessly sought cabinet post

Posted in Governor's Office, Politicians, Prison, Privatization on November 26, 2012| 4 Comments »

It might be understandable if critics of Piyush Jindal were somewhat smug after revelations that he lobbied—practically begged—to be chosen for vice president or at least be awarded a cabinet position in the Mitt Romney administration during the Republican nominee’s unsuccessful campaign for president.

Piyush, after all, kept feeding us that asinine line that he had the job he wanted and that he wasn’t interested in higher office. He even went so far as to say he would not accept a cabinet position which seemed odd, given that he had not been offered one.

The Daily Mail, a British publication which somehow seems to provide better coverage of Washington than our own media, has a story that quotes a Romney insider as saying Romney’s biggest post-election critic, one Piyush Jindal, “wanted very, very much to be Vice President.”

Of course, we in Louisiana who know him best knew that all along; he couldn’t wait to take the first flight out of Baton Rouge headed for the Beltway. We knew it, he knew it, the media knew it but still he tried to play coy with us, a tactic he is not very good at—in fact, is downright clumsy. Diplomacy is not his forte; never has been, never will be.

What he is good at, however, is taking Louisiana citizens—those who twice entrusted the state’s highest office to him—for idiots who were too stupid to see through that façade of sincerity, that veneer of humility, that false mask of concern for the people of this state.

None of it is—or ever was—real. We’ve been beating that drum for more than two years now and the message finally seems to be getting through. This guy is not to be trusted—not with our lives, our health care, our education (public and higher), our prisons, our taxes, our economy, and certainly not with all those political appointments to his campaign contributors.

• We sat idly by as he systematically undermined the state’s infrastructure by giving away billions of dollars in tax breaks, incentives, and credits to corporate entities.

• We have watched him rape public education in the name of reform, all the while, bringing in unqualified administrators at six-figure salaries, some of whom are allowed to work from their homes in other states.

• We have seen him abandon higher education to survive by its own devices (read: tuition increases which hurt those least able to absorb the financial pain).

• We have witnessed him as he turned his back on hundreds of thousands of Louisiana citizens in need of health care by implementing ruthless budget cuts to and in some cases, closing state hospitals and clinics.

• We have stood on the sidelines as he closed prisons after being thwarted in attempts to privatize those facilities.

• We have watched as he privatized state agencies, one of which amassed a $500 million fund balance while efficiently managing state employee health insurance claims.

• We have observed over and over how he has shamelessly courted the national media while ignoring requests from Louisiana media for interviews and comments.

All these actions (he refers to them as “reforms” when he appears on those frequent network news interviews) have cost thousands of Louisiana citizens jobs which in turn have cost them their benefits. He even boasts on those interviews of the jobs he has eliminated, failing to mention the has-been legislators he has appointed to six-figure state administrative jobs—jobs for which they are completely unqualified in every respect.

And, of course, when anyone disagrees with him, be it a state employee, an administrative official, a college president, an attorney, a doctor or even a legislator, he or she is immediately fired or demoted, a practice that has come to be known in Louisiana as teagued.

He has run up more than $100,000 in costs for state police security alone while flitting from state to state, from network news show to network news show, raising campaign money, promoting his book on leadership (what irony!), campaigning for other Republicans, and more recently, lecturing the national Republican Party on becoming more lovable, more touchy-feely.

But sometimes when one bites the hand that feeds him, it can bite back.

Former Romney aides have outed those “craven hypocrites” whom they say only days before the Nov. 6 election were in a virtual feeding frenzy over desired cabinet positions in the Romney administration that, it turned out, was never to be.

“I’m sure Gov. Romney is finding out now who his real friends are,” one aide was quoted as saying. “There were one or two well-known figures who were late committing to support him, who were the most eager to curry favor when it looked like we would win and who are now out there trashing the governor,” the aide added.

That would be our boy Piyush and Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich was late in joining the party because he was seeking the nomination in his own right. Piyush, you may recall, was lightning quick with his endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry before that ill-fated campaign cratered.

When the train wrecks formerly known as the Gingrich and Perry campaigns tanked, Gingrich and Piyush saw the Romney parade headed down the street and jumped in front, yelling, “Follow me!”

Romney former foreign policy adviser Dan Senor told MSNBC, “In politics, when you win, you are a genius and when you lose everyone calls you an idiot. But to see the way certain craven hypocrites are acting right now really sticks in the craw.”

Senor, by the way, is the son-in-law of former Louisiana Secretary of State and Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown.

Senor said “leading figures” were cozying up to Romney in Ohio days before the election, trying to land cabinet positions.

Piyush made national headlines with his criticism of the Romney campaign within days of his loss to President Obama. He turned on Romney like a junkyard dog would attack an unsuspecting intruder.

And that may be more than an analogy; Piyush, the incoming head of the Republican Governors’ Association, obviously now considers himself as the titular head of the party and the one anointed as its official spokesman.

Who better, after all, to criticize than a sitting governor who won 67 percent of 20 percent of the vote in last year’s gubernatorial election? That’s right, the darling of the Republican Party could coax only 20 percent of the electorate to the polls as 80 percent of the state’s voters yawned themselves into a state of catatonic indifference. Of course, his $9 million in campaign funds bowled over an unknown school teacher from north Louisiana who had only about $25,000. What would one expect?

Still, she got 17 percent of that 20 percent turnout. He called it a mandate. We call it swatting a gnat with a meat cleaver.

So now, he lectures Republicans on how not to write off 47 percent of the voters but to strive to attract “one hundred percent of the votes.”

Does anyone else see the irony here?

But oddly, it’s not smugness we feel as we watch this little drama being played out in the national, indeed international, media.

Instead, it’s a continued sense of sadness and embarrassment for the state and its people.

We deserve better than petty, petulant Piyush.

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