The non-partisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana is backing state school Superintendent Paul Pastorek’s bid to clamp down on local school boards, which many believe go overboard in micromanaging the affairs of their school districts. In a press release Thursday titled "PAR urges school board reform," PAR President Jim Brandt says, "Louisiana’s public education system continues to hug the bottom of most lists measuring quality and achievement. What is clear is that maintaining the status quo is not acceptable and change is needed now."
Among the measures endorsed by PAR: limiting the ability of board members to make hiring and firing decisions; requiring a super-majority of board members to fire a superintendent; term limits for school board members; paying board members on a per diem basis; and strengthening state nepotism laws that govern school boards and superintendents.
Pastorek spoke in Lafayette earlier this week in support of his proposals to limit local school board power, a concept that has been both hailed as essential and railed against by many within the public-education community. Pastorek began studying reports of local school board micromanagement last year at the direction of the state Board of Secondary and Elementary Education and later proposed the reforms now endorsed by PAR.
Brandt concludes: "The reforms being proposed are logical and straightforward, and most of the debate surrounding them has more to do with turf battles than anything else. Rather than banish them to a task force, the Legislature should implement these reforms this session. No further study is needed."
... written by Layne St. Julien , March 20, 2009 - 07:36 pm
What Pastorek, and PAR, fail to tell us is exactly how making these changes in the school boards' structure will in any way improve the schools. PAR rightly notes that Louisiana schools have a lot of problems . . . but these problems are related to student performance and an achievement gap between wealthy and poor children. Will placing term limits on school boards, and putting other restrictions on them, have any effect whatsoever on these difficulties? Tell me how.
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, March 24, 2009 - 06:12 am
I agree with Layne St. Julien's comment of March 20, "(La. school) problems are related to student performance and an achievement gap between wealthy and poor children." She asks if placing term limits on school board members, along with other restrictions, will have an effect on these problems. Fair question.
Early indications from dysfunctional school systems like the deplorable one in Washington DC, indicate the answer to her question is quite possibly yes. But the reasons for the encouraging early progress probably have less to do with setting board term limits and more to do with a radical shift in responsibilty and power within the management of the school system, essentially turning the school board into a policy driver while empowering the school district's superintendent with the primary responsiblity and authority to run the schools. In DC the superintendent's authority now includes the power to fire underperforming teachers and principals, while incentivizing those professionals who meet new performance standards with dramatic increases in pay in exchange for meaningful increases in student performance. According to The New York Times (March 22, 2009), "test results (in the DC system) show more educational gains were made last year than in the previous four years put together." Results like these, even though preliminary, warrant serious attention.
In the weeks ahead The Independent will explore these issues in depth as debate begins over the reform proposals of State Education chief Paul Pastorek. We look forward to hearing more from the likes of Ms. St. Julien. Her observations, questions and tone set the bar for all of us.
Steve May
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