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Archive for the ‘Notable Quotables’ Category

Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in BESE, Education, Notable Quotables, Recovery School District, Transparency on July 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

“Because the facilities master plan was in a period of decision-making, and thus not finalized, FEMA delayed payments.”

–State Superintendent of Education John White, explaining how the Recovery School District (RSD) in New Orleans ran up a debt of $7.8 million to a private contractor, $6.6 million of which was delinquent, for the transportation of RSD students in post-Katrina New Orleans. White did not explain why the facilities master plan remained in a period of “decision-making” six years after Hurricane Katrina.

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Notable quotables (in their own words)

Posted in BESE, Education, Notable Quotables on July 12, 2012| 4 Comments »

“It’s like we’re trying to fly an airplane while we’re building it.”

–Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Lottie Beebe (R-Breaux Bridge), often at odds with Gov. Bobby Jindal and State Superintendent of Education John White on issues involving public education, on hearing that English Language and math teacher training for the Common Core Standards (adopted by 48 states) by local school boards has been re-scheduled for a second time because parishes did not receive expected training from the Department of Education. The local training, originally scheduled for June, was re-set for July and now has been postponed once again.

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Notable quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Notable Quotables, Privatization on July 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“You must be an employee of the Office of Student Financial Assistance in order to be considered for this position.”

–one of the requirements of applicants for a new position at the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA) that pays up to $76,000 per year. The position was posted only days after 58 employees were laid off by LOSFA in an administration privatization move.

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in Education, Notable Quotables, Transparency on July 9, 2012| 1 Comment »

“The Department of Education’s legal department has determined that the documents are in the ‘Pre-Decisional Status,’ and we’re unable to allow you to examine them.”

–Department of Education (DOE) Public Information Officer Sarah Mulhearn, in a telephone call to LouisianaVoice on Monday after agreeing last week to allow LouisianaVoice to examine copies of all applications for vouchers/scholarships received by DOE. She was asked to send the department’s reasons to LouisianaVoice via email but thus far, has not complied despite verbally agreeing to do so. (There is no provision in R.S. 44:1, the state’s Public Records Statute, for excluding public documents from view for something called the “Pre-Decisional Status.”)

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Notable Quotables (in their own words)

Posted in ALEC, American Legislative Exchange Council, House, Senate, Legislature, Legislators, Notable Quotables on July 7, 2012| 3 Comments »

“ALEC has deliberately and repeatedly failed to comply with some of the most fundamental federal tax requirements applicable to public charities. The information…also suggests, quite strongly, that the conduct of ALEC and certain of its representatives violates other civil and criminal tax laws and may violate other federal and state criminal statutes as well.”

–Complaint challenging the tax-exempt status of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) by Marcus Owens, who, for 10 years directed the IRS division responsible for approving organizations’ tax-exempt status, particularly as it applies to ALEC failure to report the payment of expenses to legislators through its ALEC Scholarship Fund for attendance at ALEC conferences.

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