Bills 976 & 974 - Louisiana Overhauls Education System – Governor Jindal Signs Historic Bill for Increased School Vouchers and Teacher Accountability

Teachers protesting LA Bill 974 - image from "And so it goes in Shreveport.blogspot


The State of Louisiana has stepped up for Education, specifically targeting schools that are under performing, in two bills passed by a bipartisan legislature and signed into law yesterday by Governor Bobby Jindal. The first Bill number 974, holds teachers accountable for standards, with penalties in place for those who are under performing, while the second Bill 976, increases the availability of school vouchers for the poorest of the state of Louisiana - it is the largest School Voucher program in the nation. Under the two bills, Teachers are subject to loss of tenure and pay raises, should they not perform to standards, and those teachers that do perform are given incentives.

Huma Today reports that the historic legislation was not without some angst, especially from teachers unions, with lawsuits threatened immediately upon the bill’s passage.

It goes without saying that the stranglehold the teachers unions have on our educational system is responsible for keeping incompetent teachers in the classroom, without giving highly qualified educator the opportunity to move up the economic rung, as they so deserve. Those students, who live in districts with under performing schools, should be given the option to go opt out of that school and find quality education elsewhere – perhaps in a non-union “shop” where they might actually learn.

In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, many Charters Schools have waiting lists, from parents desperate to get their children into schools equipped to teach, rather than the behemoth of the Public Education System, where in some instances, the Costs of the Administration outweighs the cost of Teachers, and there is little left in budgets for items such as textbooks (in certain cities, they do not leave the school – the reasoning: they might not come back – the result, the children have no homework and the high school graduation rates are dismal (60% in some of the larger Massachusetts cities). Of note: Massachusetts lays claim to the best education system in the country – this should send warning bells across the nation to follow the example of the Louisiana Legislature and Governor Jindal – It’s time to put children above politics and boot the unions to the curb.