BESE Report - December, 2015

It’s a conflict that has frustrated parents and school administrators ever since a protest movement last spring prompted thousands of students to opt-out of taking PARCC tests. Federal law requires schools to report test scores and be graded based on them, but no law forces students to take the tests.

In a compromise that was vetted by the Parish Superintendents Advisory Council, but not the Accountability Commission, BESE approved an emergency rule that allows schools in which students to avoid penalties, at least for one year.

(New Orleans – November 21, 2015) “The right man at the right time for Louisiana.” That is how Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan introduced Representative John Bel Edwards when the Federation announced its endorsement last March.

Voters obviously agreed, and Rep. Edwards will become Governor Edwards on January 11, 2016.

LFT President Steve Monaghan has chided the editors of The Advocate for an editorial challenging the widespread belief that Common Core standards were implemented poorly and with inadequate resources, by the State Department of Education.

AUGUST 31, 2015 – BATON ROUGE, LA – The leaders of Louisiana’s two largest public education unions –the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Educators – today announced a joint effort to spotlight candidates who support the best interests of public education.

District 3 Member Dr. Lottie Beebe: “Louisiana cannot believe the claims that the 2012 reforms work.”

A Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member is taking issue with an editorial in The Advocate praising the state education board for the so-called reforms enacted in 2012 and pushed by Superintendent of Education John White and a majority of BESE members.

BESE Report – August 2015

Louisiana’s big business lobby is on track to spend an unprecedented amount on races for the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education this fall.