“Without a doubt, this year has brought unprecedented challenges to our lives,” says President Carter in a special end-of-year message to the members of Louisiana Federation of Teachers and School Employees. “I am so proud of the solidarity and passion I have seen from LFT members…Whether it’s lobbying BESE, speaking out at local school board meetings, talking to journalists, or participating in socially distanced protests, teachers and school employees have found ways to make their voices heard.”

This election cycle, Louisiana voters will consider seven possible constitutional amendments, in addition to candidates and local ballot initiatives. Each could have a lasting impact on our state. 

LFT strongly OPPOSES Constitutional Amendment #5 because it could rob our schools of vital funding, here is our position on all the amendments:

Amendment 1: No Position
Amendment 2: OPPOSE
Amendment 3: OPPOSE
Amendment 4: OPPOSE
Amendment 5: OPPOSE
Amendment 6: SUPPORT
Amendment 7: OPPOSE

To see a full explanation of LFT’s positions, click 

This week we conclude the second week in the ongoing Special Legislative Session, bringing us to nearly the half way point. Due to the oncoming Hurricane Delta, some meetings were moved up until earlier in the week, most notably both the House Education and Senate Education Committees conducted their weekly meetings at the same time on Wednesday morning. They both considered important legislation, but here are some of the highlights:

One of the most important bills that we will hear in this abbreviated legislation is Senate Bill 31 by Senator Cleo Fields. If passed, this bill would prohibit the use of statewide student assessments conducted during the 2020-2021 school year from being used to evaluate teacher performance. Essentially, schools could (and likely would) still have testing this year, but the scores couldn't count against a teacher's performance evaluation.