Issues linger as TPSB election nears

Eight of the nine sitting Terrebonne School Board members have decided to seek re-election in November, they said

The lone holdout is the first-term Dist. 5 representative Brenda Babin, who said she would continue to meditate before making a decision. “When God tells me, I’ll tell you,” Babin said.

The board’s primary election is Nov. 4, and candidates qualify from Aug. 20-22. Runoffs, if necessary, are on Dec. 6, the same date the board has eyed for months to take a second stab at securing additional tax revenue.

All other board members – Roosevelt Thomas, Greg Harding, Richard Jackson, Debi Benoit, L.P. Bordelon III, Roger DeHart, Donald Duplantis and Hayes Badeaux – said they are running re-election campaigns.

“Definitely – with a capital D,” said DeHart, the six-term Dist. 7 representative and current board president.

Terrebonne voters in 2012 agreed to apply a three-term limit on its school board members. That clock began at the start of this year, so all board members elected this year, incumbents included, would begin their first term toward that limit in 2015.

Aside from the tax issue – the verbiage for which should be finalized next month – board members expect the state’s implementation of Common Core State Standards to remain a local issue.

In May the board rejected a resolution that would have served as a symbolic rebuke of the K-12 English, math and language arts learning expectations adopted by Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Because Terrebonne is required to implement educational standards as required by state officials, the resolution would not have changed the benchmarks already phased into the district’s teaching schedule.

Nonetheless, local Common Core critics said they would organize opposition and walk door-to-door to negatively campaign against the six board members who voted against the resolution: Bordelon, DeHart, Duplantis, Harding, Jackson and Thomas.

Proponents say CCSS will improve student learning, ensure their skills translate should they relocate to a new state and help build a competent workforce for the future. Local districts still have freedom in choosing what materials they use to help students meet the heightened standards, they add.

Critics say the implementation has been haphazard, which has strained teachers, students and parents, and that high-stakes accountability measures will not adequately take into account the jagged rollout. Standards shared nationally will mute needs specific to particular communities, they also reason.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, a onetime supporter of the standards, is trying use his executive powers to replace Common Core and aligned assessments with Louisiana-specific standards.

Regardless of how the election transpires Superintendent Philip Martin will remain the district’s chief. Last December, the board by a 7-2 vote extended Martin’s contract through 2016, effectively removing the position from the campaign trail. Supporters said it would ensure continuous leadership amid an issue-laden environment. Martin’s salary package was unchanged.

Babin and Benoit, who voted against the contract extension, said the renewal meant the next school board would begin its term without a primary power and that the board should have waited until after a resolution to the tax issue before taking the vote.

The tax referendum is penciled in for the Dec. 6 ballot. It’s likely the school district follows the recommendation of a joint task force comprised of business leaders and other volunteers, which reported its consensus to be in favor of a half-cent sales tax increase dedicated to funding teacher pay raises, Martin said, though the school board will decide.

The school system’s proposal to increase property taxes by 31 mills was overwhelmingly rejected last year, due in part to organized opposition by local Realtors and the Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce. The chamber and school board jointly formed the task force to review the school district’s issues and potential funding sources.

A half-cent sales tax would generate approximately $12 million per year, a rough equivalent to a 14-mill parishwide property tax, according to the task force’s report. That would be more than enough money to fund suggested one-time $5,000 pay hikes for the district’s 1,174 certified-teaching positions and $2,000 bumps to support staff.

At one time in the last school year, Terrebonne had 60 teaching vacancies. Administrators cited the district’s position as 47th of 69 Louisiana school districts in terms of average teacher pay for making it difficult to recruit young teachers.

District officials have also bemoaned the lack of funds available for facilities upgrades and have discussed the benefits of expanding its pre-school program to offer universal enrollment.