The INDsider -> Leslie Turk FRI, NOV 20 10:33AM by Leslie Turk

BESE’s Roemer: trim Dept. of Ed.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's Chas Roemer has an idea about how to streamline state government: overhaul the Department of Education. Roemer said the department is so bureaucratic and unresponsive to children that it needs to be overhauled from top to bottom, The Advocate reported today.

“I mean, if we are talking about streamlining our state, we ought to get serious about it,” Roemer told the paper.

Roemer made his request in a letter to state Treasurer John Kennedy, an outspoken member of the Commission on Streamlining Government, which is supposed to recommend ways to cut state spending.

Kennedy said in an interview that Roemer “makes great points” and he plans to bring up his letter with commission members. “That is certainly a subject that we can take up,” Kennedy said.

State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, who, according to The Advocate, supports many of Roemer’s sentiments, plans to ask for Legislative authority to reorganize the department.

Pastorek should have more to say on this issue Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Cajundome Convention Center, as he concludes The Independent Weekly’s 2009 Lecture Series, sponsored by IberiaBank. The lecture will open with an overview of the academic performance of Lafayette Parish schools and conclude with a Q&A. Tickets are $35 per person or $295 for a table of eight. For more info or for reservations, contact Kathy Lowry at 337-769-8602 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tickets are also available at www.theind.com/indEvents.

Read the rest of today’s Advocate story here.

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written by yomamaspajamas , November 20, 2009 - 05:33 pm

Close and reopen is a great idea but NOT with the same people. Get rid of everyone involved with the education system from the top to the bottom. Replacements from anywhere outside of the education system would be far better than using the same old dunderheaded, lame excuses for educators we have now.

ALL OF THEM, even the good ones (there are a least a dozen) are tainted with the stench of the system.

Start over from scratch, at least we won't be so far behind.

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written by just sayin , November 20, 2009 - 07:20 pm

if pastorek really wants to streamline the dept of ed, why has he announced that this departmetn will take HALF of the race to the top money?
without even taking a look at any school plans, he's already going to take half. that's a whole lot of money for a bunch of narrow-minded bureaucrats to spend.
but, pastorek does make more than $300,000 PLUS the car PLUS the house so i guess times are tough.

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