In June, Governor Landry signed into law the mandatory posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. Reportedly, he also said he “can’t wait to be sued” over the bill. Despite this mandate, Landry assured taxpayers that state funds would not be used to pay for the new bill – that posters would be paid for by donations. It didn’t take people long to figure out that the finances don’t add up.
Landry is willing to spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of taxpayer dollars fighting legal battles to keep the Ten Commandments in the classroom, but he isn’t willing to spend that same money on executing the mandate. And who exactly is going to be collecting and distributing these donations? Is the state paying a staff member to lobby for donations, or are individual school districts now having to figure out how to pay for these posters? And if schools don’t receive the donations to pay for the posters, will they be punished for failing to comply with the mandate? Who is really paying the bill, and what are the consequences when schools can’t or won’t comply?
But Landry’s willingness to pay for lawsuits but not posters isn’t even my greatest concern when it comes to education finances. In the same week that he mandated the posting of the Ten Commandments, Landry also signed into law the LA Gator Scholarship. In a nutshell, the scholarship allows families of lower socio-economic status to use public funds to pay for private school education. While these bills are touted as “school choice” and an opportunity for students to access educational opportunities they otherwise would not be able to afford, what they really do is take money away from public schools, schools that are already underfunded. Long term, this can have devastating effects because the more people who participate in the Gator Scholarship, the less money the public schools receive.
Further complicating this is the fact that private schools are not required to provide students with services and accommodation. In fact, the language of the scholarship bill explicitly states that “the parent agrees to accept only such services as are available to all students enrolled in the participating school.” Students who need accommodations are less likely to take advantage of the scholarship because they won’t receive accommodations at choice schools. Instead, it will be the high-achieving students who take advantage of the scholarship, leaving public schools with a disproportionate number of students who need services – services that the public schools will struggle to provide effectively with fewer funds – and lower-performing students.
The LA Gator Scholarship is going into effect at the exact time that the Louisiana Department of Education is instituting a new accountability system. In discussing the new school rating system, The State Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Cade Brumley said, “This revised system will require patience from the public. Initially, fewer schools will earn As and Bs than under the current model. It would be helpful to support your local schools and school leaders through this change in both priorities and expectations.” I have been arguing for years that if we want to improve schools, we have to be willing to let students fail. We have to set the bar and expect students to meet it, providing support, accommodations, and resources to those who struggle. Instead, what we’ve done too often in the past is simply lower the bar, but teaching to the lowest common denominator ultimately fails to prepare all students for their futures. At least in that sense, I agree with the overall logic of the new accountability system, but there are at least two major issues with this new system.
First, the new scoring system isn’t really raising the bar. Instead, it is giving significantly more value to LEAP scores and reducing the value of other measures of school strength. For example, of the 32 classes a high school student can take, a school’s value will be based on how well students do on just 3 LEAP tests. In other words, 75% of a school’s grade is based on just 10% of the curriculum. Students who are not traditionally academic may not perform well on the LEAP tests, but they may be very successful in career-based opportunities provided by their schools, such as ROTC, Jumpstart, or pro-start. Unfortunately, the new scoring system gives very little value to these alternative measures of success.
Second, I’m gravely concerned that the public will not have the patience that Dr. Brumley asks for. Instead, I think many parents will see lower school performance scores and use the LA Gator Scholarship as an opportunity to “jump ship,” continuing to leave public schools with a disproportionate number of struggling students. To be very clear, struggling students, especially those who need services and accommodations, are not the problem. The problem is that public schools are already struggling to support these students effectively, and often “support” these students by putting more on teachers’ plates rather than investing in additional staff and resources. With public funds being redirected to private schools through the scholarship, there will be even less money to ensure these students are given the support they need, and with fewer supports, schools are less likely to meet the new accountability measures. And of course, the more schools shovel onto teachers’ plates in an attempt to meet these measures, the greater the teacher shortage will become. Furthermore, less funding means that many of those programs that offer students alternatives to traditional, academic success will end up on the chopping block, just as we’ve seen reduced funding for music and art programs in the past.
At number 42 in the nation for public schools, our state seems to be making decisions that are going to move us in the wrong direction. Maybe I’m being fatalistic. I know this seems like a “slippery-slope” argument, and I truly hope my fears don’t come to fruition, but I also know that I am far from the only public school educator side-eying these new initiatives. To many of the state’s public school educators, it feels like it’s the beginning of the end of Louisiana public schools.
