Thibodaux voters reject parks tax
March 28, 2012
Roemer makes independent pitch
March 28, 2012
Anger, satisfaction and confusion persist nearly a week after the Louisiana House of Representatives passed Gov. Bobby Jindal’s controversial education reform bill.
Following a 12-hour debate, the early Friday morning, bipartisan 64-43 vote sent House Bill-976 to the state Senate where it is expected to go to committee next week, according to the senate secretary’s office.
Among Tri-parish delegates, those supporting the legislation included state Reps. Gordon Dove and Lenar Whitney. The two Republicans from Houma stood in contrast to “nay” voting state Reps. Jerry “Truck” Gisclair (D-Larose), Joe Harrison (R-Napoleonville), Jerome “Dee” Richard (NP-Thibodaux) and Sam Jones (D-Franklin).
Jones called the bill’s passage a “railroad job.”
“My biggest complaint is that there is no improving of public education in the package,” Richard said following the vote. “Nothing in it helps teachers.”
“I’m still trying to figure out what changes have actually been made that are different than what we already practice,” Terrebonne Parish School District Philip Martin said.
At its heart, HB-976 makes it more difficult for public school teachers to retain tenure, which some educators have been accused of using as job protection while not practicing the highest teaching standards. It also adopts stricter standards for teachers to meet in job performance reviews.
The measure offers opportunity for low-income students in schools graded at “D” or “F” levels to secure priority in being placed in private schools with state-paid vouchers.
“[This] vote was a huge leap forward for the state and more importantly a triumph for Louisiana’s children,” Louisiana Federation for Children spokesperson Lauren Perry said. “We applaud the legislators that stood in support of a plan that will provide families with the quality of education options they have long awaited.”
The LFC is associated with the Alliance for School Choice and openly backed Jindal’s school voucher initiative.
Martin confirmed that while school vouchers might be an issue in cities like New Orleans or parishes with the state’s lowest performing public schools, such as Caddo Parish, vouchers are not a central concern in the Terrebonne, Lafourche or St. Mary parishes where each district carries a “C” average.
The matters of tenure and teacher pay-by-performance, however, have been topics of heated discussion regionally.
An Ellender Memorial High School teacher in Houma made public comments, but did not give permission to be named, as he complained about passage of HB-976. He said the bill was drafted without any input from practicing educators.
“The new teacher education system has not been vetted,” the Houma teacher said. “It does not have a way to measure the effectiveness of teachers in classes like English 3, English 4, advanced math, calculus, music, art or P.E. Yet, this system is used to take teacher’s tenure away.”
“I have no major concerns with the tenure measure,” Martin said. “In Terrebonne Parish we certainly have no intention of getting rid of teachers who are doing their jobs.”
A Thibodaux teacher who did not want to be identified said she fears for her job because her elementary school students are so unruly that she spends class-time breaking up fights rather than teaching.
Martin addressed the concern voiced by both teachers worried their evaluations under the new system could treat them unfairly. They respectively have classes where students refuse to participate in learning and where excelling students do not demonstrate strong improvement percentages because they already perform at top levels.
“There is a model that is not based upon achievement levels [by which teachers could be graded],” he said. “It addresses growth based upon kids similar to theirs.”
Martin said the model for these classes would look at performance and compare it to state averages for classes with students of the same demographic and performance level.
Teachers particularly voiced concern regarding the practice of pay-by-performance. “I support performance pay if it is done fairly and equitably, and does away with some of the fears and concerns that teachers have,” Martin said. “Not all children learn at the same level, at the same rate and same time. Any pay-by-performance has to factor in those variables so it is fair for all teachers. I support that in concept and principle.”
“There is no mention … on how these reforms will be enforced or funded,” a Houma teacher said. “The only thing [this legislation] is going to do is kill teacher morale.”
“There is no accountability specific to this bill,” Richard added. The state representative identified his biggest concern for the public being that the governor’s reforms remain open to interpretation and offer no explanation as to how they might benefit current and future students.
Teacher Cindy Cart from Jeff Davis Parish displays her feelings in the crowd protesting on the State Capitol Building steps the school reform package being taken up in the House Education Committee Wednesday March 14, 2012, in Baton Rouge, La.
