Reader: We need good public schools

Dorothy Glover
July 30, 2007
Horace Scott
August 1, 2007
Dorothy Glover
July 30, 2007
Horace Scott
August 1, 2007

Dear Editor,

On June 30th, approximately 500 men, women and children participated in a protest march on BESE to bring attention to the unlawful use of the LEAP test as a grade promotion test.


The use of the LEAP test by BESE to require public school students to pass from one grade to the next has neither been authorized by the laws of this state nor the Louisiana Constitution.


As a state administrative agency, BESE members do not have authority to amend either the laws or Constitution of this state.

As a direct result of this unlawful use this year, over 28,000 fourth and eighth grade students in our public schools were recorded as failing the test. Please keep in mind that most of these students passed their regular courses. Some are honor students, and some even have a 4.0 grade point average.


As voters, we elect legislators to make and amend the laws; we elect eight BESE members to carry out the laws. The governor appoints three BESE members making a total membership of 11.


The LEAP test was adopted by the state legislature as an assessment test to monitor school performance. The Louisiana Constitution requires that students complete 23 units of study to require elementary public school students to pass the LEAP test only in the fourth and eighth grades to be promoted to the next level; and to require public high school students to pass the GEE (initially taking it in the 10th and 11th grades) in order to graduate from public high school.

We are asking the voters in this state – white and black, Protestant and Catholic – and other groups to please set aside our differences and come together collectively for the future of our children and our public schools.

The power is in our hands, but a few keep us fighting against one another, and we miss the bigger picture. BESE needs a new look at how to monitor school performance without using our children as guinea pigs in a testing lab called the Louisiana public school system.

If the current members are unable to develop a different approach, then they should be replaced. It’s time to stop experimenting with these kids’ lives and demand good public schools that provide good environments where they can learn.

Together, we can change the system

Ernest L. Johnson,

President, Louisiana NAACP

Member of the NAACP National Board of Directors