LAE will not endorse Louisiana’s R2T application

Louisiana Association of Educators

8322 One Calais Ave. Baton Rouge, LA 70809

225-343-9243 1-800-256-4523

Fax: 225-343-9272 www.lae.org

For Immediate Release

12/17/09

LAE will not endorse Louisiana's R2T application

(Baton Rouge) The Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE) announced that it will not be able to endorse the Department of Education's (DOE) Race to the Top (R2T) application in its present form. This comes after a meeting with Superintendent Paul Pastorek and other key department personnel on Thursday afternoon.

Joyce Haynes, LAE president, expressed disappointment at the actions of Supt. Pastorek and the DOE, for their unwillingness to work with LAE on key issues. These include the teacher evaluation process, student assessment, and other issues LAE hoped would improve teacher and district support for the Louisiana R2T application. President Haynes remarked, "Having had three prior meetings, I approached today's meeting with confidence, as Supt. Pastorek had assured me that an educators' perspective was key and that he was willing to work with LAE." She continued, "First we had to get to the table. Now we need a chance to digest and continue to discuss how we can partner in the transformation of the system."

Haynes said that LAE is sensitive to both the need for additional resources and support, which may be provided to the state through R2T grants. She believes that there are several positive items in the overall grant that could improve student performance in Louisiana. However, Haynes reported that she could not in "good faith" agree to the current R2T application. Haynes indicated that LAE remains willing to collaborate with the department to both improve the application and to help design effective programs to improve student performance in Louisiana. LAE believes that the focus on "great teachers and leaders" is a critical component to the improvement of schools and student performance in the state.

LAE agrees that a proactive approach is needed to improve schools in Louisiana. However, rushing a grant application partially focused on beliefs rather than what actually works is inappropriate. If given the opportunity, LAE will continue to "get back to the table" and actively work to improve the Louisiana DOE application.

LAE will convene a meeting of education stakeholders in early January to discuss the Louisiana DOE R2T application. LAE will enter into these discussions with the sentiment of, "surviving tough times requires tough advocacy."

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Contact: Sharon Terrell

LAE Director of Communications

Office: 225-330-0403, ext. 112

Cell: 985-778-8812

sharon.terrell@lae.org

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School Board sets talks on superintendent hunt

School Board sets talks on superintendent hunt

• Advocate Baker - Zachary bureau
  
• Published: Dec 16, 2009 - Page: 4B
  

ST. FRANCISVILLE — The West Feliciana Parish School Board on Tuesday set a special Jan. 12 meeting to discuss how it plans to proceed with interviews for the school system's next superintendent.

Board President Sara Wilson-Wright said interviews with candidates selected by the board will begin in mid- to late January.

Eleven people submitted applications for the post, which is now held on an interim basis by Jesse L. Perkins Jr.

Perkins stepped up from the assistant superintendent's position when Superintendent Lloyd L. Lindsey Jr. died in an April 15 accident.

The candidates, in the order they submitted applications, are as follows:

• John R. Philips, Isle of Palms, S.C.; former director of university-school district partnerships, Claflin University, Orangeburg, S.C.
  
• Pamlynn Hardy, New Orleans; former director of student services, Camelot of Louisiana.
  
• Retired Pointe Coupee Parish Superintendent Dan Rawls, Pierre Part.
  
• Former East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Gary Mathews, now superintendent of the Williamsburg-James City County School District, Williamsburg, Va.
  
• Camacia Smith-Ross, New Orleans; Upward Bound director, Dillard University.
  
• Hollis G. Milton, Baton Rouge; principal, Southeast Middle School.
  
• Paul E. Nelson, Vidalia; director of academic programs, Concordia Parish School Board.
  
• James Alton Taylor Jr., Baton Rouge; associate professor of education, Southern University.
  
• Deborah H. Moran, Kiln, Miss.; principal and supervisor, Hancock County School District.
  
• Mark E. Marshall, Tacoma, Wash.; principal, Thomas Jefferson High School, Federal Way, Wash.
  
• Lynette R. Zimmer, Burlington, Wisc.; former assistant superintendent, Fremont School District 79, Mundelein, Ill.
  

LAE President Haynes-A Moment in Time

LAE President Haynes-A Moment in Time

School Board looks for savings

School Board looks for savings

• By JAMES MINTON
  
• Advocate Baker - Zachary bureau
  
• Published: Dec 2, 2009 - Page: 5B
  

• 
   

  CLINTON — The East Feliciana Parish School Board doesn't have enough money to pay its bills, and a board member suggested Tuesday the first place to begin budget-cutting is in the board room.
  

  Superintendent Douglas Beauchamp said the board is counting on federal stimulus funds and budget cuts to weather a $1.2 million deficit this year, but funds are not immediately available for a "large number" of unpaid bills .
  

  Member Matthew Peterson called for the board to cut its salaries, reduce the board from 12 to nine members and consolidate Jackson and Clinton high schools to save money.
  

  The consolidation proposal, which was dropped last year, again drew opposition from Clinton member Michael Bradford, who claimed that any savings realized would be "pipelined directly to Slaughter," where community activists are trying to form a charter school.
  

  The board referred cutting members' salaries to the Policy Committee, although Bradford, Peterson and board President J. Curtis Jelks said they are donating some of their salaries to the schools.
  

  The board budgeted $80,000 for salaries this fiscal year.
  

  Assistant District Attorney Mike Hughes said the board cannot reduce its membership until after population figures from the 2010 federal census are available.
  

  "We have a School Board member for every 185 students. We're top heavy in administrators, but the first place where we're top heavy is in this room," Peterson said in arguing for adoption of the Police Jury's nine-member districting plan.
  

  As for consolidating the high schools, Peterson said the only difference between East Feliciana and West Feliciana's school systems "is what they did in the 1970s," referring to West Feliciana and its one consolidated high school. The district has ranked second in the state for academic performance the past four years.
  

  After a lengthy discussion, members Beth Dawson, Leon Franklin, Tony Rouchon, Peterson and Jelks advanced a motion to ask Beauchamp to submit a consolidation plan at the January meeting.
  

  Bradford and Willie M. Jackson voted against the motion, Richard Terrell abstained and members Mitch Harrell, Oliver Wingfield and Henry Howell were absent. Member Clay Barksdale, a volunteer fire chief, was called from the meeting for an emergency before the vote.
  

La. public schoolteachers pay still at regional average

La. public schoolteachers pay still at regional average

• By WILL SENTELL
  
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
  
• Published: Dec 3, 2009 - Page: 14A
  

• 
   

  Despite state budget problems, pay for public-schoolteachers remains at the regional average and ahead of Louisiana's neighboring states, officials said.
  

  Teachers were paid an average of $48,627 for the 2008-09 school year, said Raymond Brady, a consultant for the state's Educating Estimating Conference.
  

  The conference is a panel that tracks public-school trends.
  

  Brady spelled out his preliminary findings to the conference Nov. 18 and elaborated on them this week.
  

  He said teacher pay for the past school year was within $100 or $200 of the regional average, a longtime goal that the state reached for the first time in 2007.
  

  Brady said it also is higher than what teachers were paid in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
  

  That advantage is noteworthy because, in the past, Texas and other states close to Louisiana have tried to lure teachers to those schools with the promise of higher salaries.
  

  It also takes place amid Louisiana's biggest budget mess in decades.
  

  One education official disputed Brady's figures.
  

  Earlier this year, basic state aid for public schools was frozen for the first time in a dozen years.
  

  While teachers did not get a state pay raise this year, some collected more money from their local school districts.
  

  Teachers won state pay increases of $1,019 in 2008.
  

  Brady said he thinks Louisiana is in good shape to keep teacher pay at the regional average, mostly because other states face financial problems of their own.
  

  "We really worked hard to get to this average here over many administrations," he said Tuesday.
  

  "Now, given the financial situation relative to other states, we are positioned to really maintain that, or maybe drop a little."
  

  The regional average is calculated by the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta.
  

  It includes Louisiana and 15 other states.
  

  Figures for the 2008-09 school year may be released this month, said Alan Richard, a spokesman for the SREB.
  

  A lobbyist for the Louisiana Association of Educators, Tom Tate, said he thinks Brady's estimates are too high for Louisiana teachers.
  

  "I just don't see it," Tate said of the $48,627 average.
  

  He said he thinks teachers are paid an average of $46,000 or $47,000 per year.
  

  Tate also said the LAE is not seeking an across-the-board pay raise for teachers in 2010 because of state financial problems.
  

  Revenue available for state services is expected to drop by $3 billion over the next two years.
  

  Tate said his group is working with state officials on the possibility of changing the state's salary schedule, such as paying more for teaching in hard-to-fill jobs.
  

  Average public school teacher pay, 2008-09
  Louisiana: $48,627
  Texas: $47,158
  Mississippi: $42,902
  Alabama: $47,100
  Arkansas: $45,418
  Florida: $46,938
  

  Source: Education Estimating Conference