BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Baton Rouge judge said Wednesday that he expects to rule this week on a lawsuit from teacher unions and school boards seeking to shut down Gov. Bobby Jindal's statewide voucher program.
Arguments in the trial were set to continue Thursday, after a more than eight-hour day of testimony filled with complex discussions of the state's $3.4 billion education funding formula and a civics crash course on how legislation moves through the process.
"Hopefully by the end of this week, you'll have a resolution to this one way or the other," Judge Tim Kelley told lawyers as he opened the hearing.
Whatever Kelley rules is expected to be appealed by the losing side.
Two statewide teacher unions and 43 school boards filed a lawsuit claiming the voucher program that uses tax dollars to send children to private schools — and other education funding plans that funnel money away from traditional public schools — are unconstitutional.
They argue it's illegal to pay for the voucher program, home-schooling, online courses, college tuition and independently run charter schools that won't be affiliated with local school systems through the public school funding formula.
They claim lawmakers didn't follow the constitutional requirements for filing and passing the education programs and their funding.
And they say the state's method for paying for the vouchers and other programs has the effect of diverting local tax dollars earmarked by voters in local elections for public schools away from those schools.
"What the Department of Education is doing is they're dipping into the back pockets of the local school systems," said Brian Blackwell, a lawyer representing the Louisiana Association of Educators.
Jindal, Education Superintendent John White and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education say the programs were funded and created in line with the constitution and state law.
"This process was handled perfectly consistent with legislative history, perfectly consistent with Louisiana law," said Jimmy Faircloth, a lawyer representing the state, BESE and the Department of Education.
More than 4,900 students are enrolled in 117 private schools with taxpayer dollars in the voucher program that the education department estimates will cost about $25 million for the 2012-12 school year. It's one of the largest voucher programs in the nation.
Voucher slots are available to students who otherwise would attend public schools graded with a C, D or F by the state.
Lawmakers agreed to the education changes pushed by Jindal in their regular session earlier this year, as a way to improve student achievement. Teachers repeatedly protested at the Louisiana Capitol, but the measures were fast-tracked through the Legislature by Jindal allies.
Testimony on Wednesday came from Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, leader of the House Democratic caucus and a lawyer who was a vocal critic of the governor's education revamp. Edwards raised constitutional concerns about the legislation during the session and again in court.
House Clerk Alfred "Butch" Speer explained his advice to House Speaker Chuck Kleckley that allowed the education spending plans to pass with 51 votes, rather than the House majority of 53 votes. The lawsuit calls that improper, but Speer said the type of legislative instrument used — a resolution, rather than a bill — only required a majority vote from those who were present in the chamber.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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