Louisiana teacher Mercedes Schneider has uncovered a curious puzzle. When five veteran administrators are hired by the state superintendent as “network leaders,” at high salaries, then disappear from view, where did they go? What do they do?
Archives for category: Louisiana
To regular readers of this blog, the story is not new.
Teach for America is one of the richest nonprofit organizations in the United States, yet it passes the begging bowl as if it desperately needs cash.
TFA is a brand, a money machine. Its tax reports got out on the Internet, and now everyone who wants to know knows that TFA collected nearly a billion dollars in a five-year period. And that Wendy Kopp, its CEO, pays herself about $400,000 a year. And that other staff members are handsomely paid.
Now this Louisiana blogger wants to know why TFA is pleading for $5 million from poor Louisiana and $6 million from Mississippi.
Why do they put a price on the head of every poorly trained recruit? Do they feel bad about sending in these young kids to replace veteran educators who live in the community? Do they worry about persuading policymakers that teaching is a job for temps, not a profession?
State commissioner of Education John White has outdone himself this time.
He puts forward one goofy plan after another, like sending children to schools that teach creationism and calling it “reform.”
But now he has an even nuttier idea: He wants to tie the funding for the state’s gifted high school students to their test scores. Really. No kidding.
It’s merit pay for kids.
What’s next: Tying funding for poor kids to their “performance?” Cutting their funding if they don’t get high enough test scores?
Currently the state has 10,000 students in gifted programs in high schools.
Under the present formula, they get 1.6 times the allotment as is available for those in general education.
The gifted students would take a cut to 1.3 times the regular students unless they hit the following goals:
Under the BESE-approved MFP plan students would qualify for the aid if:
“Eighth-graders score excellent on their Algebra I end of course test.
Ninth-graders score excellent on their geometry end-of-course test or 3 or higher on an Advanced Placement test, which can be used to qualify for college credit.
10th-graders score 3 or higher on an AP exam.
11th-graders score 3 or higher on an AP exam or 4 or higher on an International Bachelorette course, or IB.”
The savings would be small, but the message to students is that John White will cut their funding if they don’t get the scores he wants.
A few more big ideas like this and John White will turn Louisiana into an international laughing stock.
Unless he has already reached that goal.
Teachers at a charter school in Louisiana received eye-popping bonuses.
One got a bonus of $43,000–more than 75% of her annual salary–for raising test scores by 88% in one year.
Five teachers shared bonuses of $167,000,
The money comes from a federal grant.
One teacher saw a gain of nearly 200%, but she teaches kindergarten, so she received only $4,086.
The school got a grade of D from the state. Last year, it was D-.
The scores, the grades, the gains, the bonuses. Are the children better educated? Who knows?
In other districts, gains of this size usually are grounds for an investigation. But this is Louisiana, so forget about it.
Louisiana is the state most dedicated to wiping out public education and the teaching profession, under the leadership of Governor Bobby Jindal and state commissioner John White. Jindal and White are doing whatever they can to privatize public education with vouchers, charters, and a program to outsource as much as possible of the funding dedicated in the state constitution to the maintenance of public education.
As I have learned from many friends in that state, the governor does not like dissent. When people disagree with his policies, they risk losing their job. In conversations, I have been told again and again, “Don’t mention my name. Please.”
No matter how authoritarian or dictatorial the government may be, there are always a few brave souls who feel compelled to speak up. Some are bloggers. Some are researchers. Some are both. They are smart, they are strong, they are courageous. They can’t tolerate lies, spin, and meanness. They believe the government has an obligation to support the general well-being of the people, not to serve the corporations that fund political campaigns.
And so in this post, I want to salute the bloggers and researchers who have kept alive free speech and free inquiry and the public’s right to know what is happening in their state.
I add their names to the honor roll as champions of American public education.
In no particular order, they are:
Mike Deshotels, who blogs at Louisiana Educator. He has formed a group called Defenders of Public Education.
Research on Reforms, which has been trying to bring evidence to bear on the many false claims about a Louisiana or New Orleans “miracle.” In particular, I applaud the work of Barbara Ferguson, Charles Hatfield, and Raynard Sanders, who have maintained high standards of research in their work.
Lance Hill, who is a tireless advocate for social justice and the children and teachers of New Orleans. Lance brought me to New Orleans in 2010 to speak at Dillard University, where I met many brave researchers, parents, and teachers.
Educators for All, a group of researchers and parents who remain anonymous, but have used public information to exposé public lies about the schools.
Crazy Crawfish, a blogger who uses wit and research to exposé the manipulation of data by the State Education Department.
Mercedes Schneider, a <;;a href="http://“>;;blogger who is fearless in skewering the powerful. She has a Ph.D. In statistics but chooses to teach high school in her native state.
Tom Aswell at Louisiana Voice, a blogger who writes about “graft, lies, and politics: a monument to corruption,” in Louisiana and never runs out of material. He is an invaluable resource as Jindal finds ingenious ways to sell off or give away public assets to powerful corporations. When Tom turns to education, he sees right through Jindal’s smoke and mirrors, the same raid on the public treasury.
I feel honored to have met these brave men and women and i am privileged to post their work here. When the day comes that people of the state see how they have been hoodwinked by their elected officials, they will owe a debt of gratitude to those I honor now. And when that day arrives, no one will be fearful of speaking out and using their own names.
I previously named Zack Kopplin to the honor roll for his outspoken opposition to schools teaching creationism. A native of Louisiana, Zack criticized Governor Bobby Jindal’s voucher plan for using public funds to send students to schools that teach creationism.
Zack, a student at Rice University, recently appeared on the Bill Moyers show to talk about vouchers and creationism.
The show featured an interactive map that pinpoints every school teaching creationism with public funding. Most are concentrated in Florida and Louisiana.
If Governor Haslam in Tennessee gets his way (abetted by State Commissioner Kevin Huffman [ex-TFA]), there will be many more creationist schools funded by taxpayers. Even more taxpayer dollars will flow to such schools in Alabama and Georgia, and don’t discount their spread into Indiana, Ohio, and other states.
Is this the STEM education that will propel our nation into the 21st century?
As Jersey Jazzman reports, on some days Rahm Emanuel blames poor test scores on children’s home environment. On other days, he blames it on teachers.
What is he thinking?
Here is what Chicago is thinking: Rahm’s approval rating is down to 33%.
He is polling about the same as Bobby Jindal and Rick Scott.
Could it be that making war on teachers and privatizing public education is not only bad public policy but bad politics? Maybe these politicians, birds of a feather, underestimated the voters.
Bobby Jindal’s poll numbers have dropped sharply. In 2010, he had favorability ratings of 58%.
His positive rating is now down to 34%, making him one of the most unpopular governors in the U.S.
In Florida, Governor Rick Scott’s approval ratings are down to 33%.
This is good news.
Voters are paying attention.
The people of Louisiana and Florida are not pleased by governors determined to eviscerate the public sector. Instead of improving basic public services, they are outsourcing and privatizing them.
They are not conservatives. They are arch-reactionaries. Our country needs a vigorous private sector and a robust public sector. Neither should be weakened.
The American public doesn’t want corporate America to take, rent, buy or grab what belongs to them.
Mike Deshotels writes a terrific blog about education in Louisiana. He attended my debate with Chas Roemer, and here is his account. He also writes about the teacher town hall, where I urged teachers to become politically active.
He urged teachers to join the Network for Public Education. They should also join the “Defenders of Public Education.”
It is not teachers alone who are at risk in Louisiana. It is the very principle of public education as a founding pillar of our democracy.
Forgive me if I seem to be focusing quite a lot of space on Louisiana, but please understand that the state is now a Petri dish for privatization of public education on a massive scale. To keep costs down, the state is doing its best to drive out experienced teachers and replace them with TFA.
Another reason I post often about Louisiana is that it has so many excellent bloggers. They are smart, fearless, and relentless. They help the rest of us understand the systematic destruction of public education (a process now called “reform”).
When I spoke in Baton Rouge last Thursday, I debated the president of the state board of education, Chas Roemer. Chas described himself as “a redneck from northern Louisiana,” but Locals know that his father was governor, he graduated from Harvard, he is an avid supporter of choice, and his sister heads the state charter school association.
One of the state’s best bloggers, Crazy Crawfish, was there that day. He used to work in the Louisiana Department of Education. He didn’t get to ask his question because time was up. Here is his summary of the event and the question he wished he could ask but didn’t get a chance.:
Diane Ravitch's blog 