The governor describes his education agenda this legislative session as a way to improve school, teacher and student performance. It could just as easily be described as a list of everything the unions oppose: promotion of charter schools, teacher evaluations tied to student test scores and public schools' ability to sidestep teacher salary schedules and tenure rules.
The head of the Louisiana Association of Educators called the governor's agenda "anti-public education and teacher-bashing."
Two bills are drawing much of the ire from the unions: one measure would make public schools function more like charter schools by letting them get waivers from state law and education policies and another would rate teachers in part on student test scores and make it easier to dismiss them if they fail repeated reviews.
While not surprising that a Republican governor doesn't embrace the positions of union groups, Jindal's package of education proposals this year is considered an all-out assault against them.
Before the legislative session started, criticism began.
The head of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, Steve Monaghan, sent the governor a letter complaining about the bill that would let schools and school districts apply for a four-year waiver of state laws or statewide policies.
"We were hopeful that the coming legislative session would be more collaborative and less contentious," Monaghan said in the letter. "That hope is not reflected in the proposals outlined in the so-called Red Tape Reduction Act."
Monaghan said teachers haven't complained that areas like teacher salary schedules, teacher certification and student-teacher ratios -- areas listed by Jindal as regulations that could be waived -- are impediments to student achievement.
Jindal described the measure, sponsored by Rep. Jane Smith, R-Bossier City, as a way to shrink burdensome regulations on schools that can inhibit academic improvement. Low-performing schools would have to improve student's standardized test scores when having the waiver, or face takeover by the state. Higher-performing schools that don't improve while having a waiver wouldn't be able to get it renewed.
"So often we've heard from schools that complain that we give flexibility to charter schools or we've heard from public schools that the state only helps them through the recovery district when it's time for a state takeover," the governor said.
Joyce Haynes, president of the LAE, said educators believe the changes would allow for mass firings of teachers.
"One thing I've learned as a teacher for over three decades is that one person's 'red tape' is another person's important protection for students and schools," Haynes said in a statement.
If the teacher groups weren't jittery enough, Jindal's also pushing a bill by Rep. Frank Hoffmann, R-West Monroe, that would rewrite the evaluation process for teachers.
The bill would require annual evaluations for teachers starting next year. At least 50 percent of that review would be tied to student performance data and whether students are improving their scores on accountability tests.
"The bottom line is, let's reward those teachers, let's reward those classrooms where our students are learning," Jindal said.
Teachers currently get formal evaluations at least once every three years -- but those aren't specifically tied to student performance data. If a teacher meets the standards for three years, they get tenure, a type of job protection that makes it much more difficult to be fired.
Hoffmann's bill would upend that system, though teacher unions dispute that standardized tests are an appropriate method for grading student achievement.
That doesn't really matter. Jindal doesn't seem to be trying to curry their favor much anyway.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Melinda Deslatte covers the state Capitol for The Associated Press.
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