Abbreviated BESE meetings sidestep ESSA issue

Faster than a speeding bullet, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education sailed through its slate of meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in record time. Committee hearings that generally last until the sun goes down (or later) were gaveled to a close with hours to spare, leaving onlookers puzzled more about what did not happen than what did.

Karen Riggleman, a member of the Jefferson Federation of Teachers, was announced as the recipient of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers' Mother Jones Award at the LFT's annual Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel Conference, held April 1 at the Baton Rouge Crowne Plaza Hotel.

New Orleans paraprofessional Yovonda Curtis received a Louisiana Federation of Teachers PSRP Scholarship at the Federation's annual Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel Conference, held on April 1 at the Baton Rouge Crowne Plaza Hotel.
 

Two stalwart Louisiana Federation of Teachers leaders were named to the Louisiana AFL-CIO Hall of Fame in ceremonies held at the union’s annual convention on March 20. Mike Myers of Shreveport and the late Elsie Burkhalter of Slidell were among inductees at the ceremony.

(March 21, 2017) Proposed cuts to the U.S. Department of Education budget would hit Louisiana hard, costing teachers and students over $73 million, according to the Center for American Progress.

Louisiana Federation of Teachers
BESE Report
March, 2017

Even as the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a $3.4 billion funding formula for the state’s public schools in the coming year, Superintendent of Education John White cautioned that the plan will probably not win legislative approval.