Calling it “perhaps the most-watched race” for a spot on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, The Times-Picayune reports District 7 BESE candidate and former teacher Holly Boffy has so far raised roughly $49,000 in campaign contributions, more than 14 times the $3,450 raised so far by incumbent Dale Bayard of Sulphur.
Boffy, a 33-year-old Abbeville native and 2010 Teacher of the Year, has been actively spreading her platform across Southwest Louisiana since announcing her candidacy, quickly coming out strong against teacher tenure and other critical reform issues being touted by Gov. Bobby Jindal and his administration.
Jindal, who gave Boffy the official nod of approval when he included her in his lengthy list of endorsements for most statewide and legislative races, has also contributed $5,000 to Boffy’s campaign, according to The T-P:
While the Legislature charts the course of education with laws, BESE and the state Department of Education implement the policies with rules and regulations. BESE also approves the person who serves as superintendent of education. That post was vacated in May by Paul Pastorek, an attorney who returned to more lucrative work in the private sector. Pastorek, a former BESE member, was long a supporter of the changes questioned by the Coalition. Jindal wants to replace him with John White, now head of the state agency that oversees most New Orleans Schools. But approval requires a two-thirds BESE vote and, despite his three appointments to the body, Jindal so far doesn’t have the votes for approval.
Jindal’s campaign, with no strong opposition as the Oct. 22 election nears, already has put thousands into the race. A new political action committee formed to influence the eight BESE races — the Alliance for Better Classrooms — reported last week raising more than $210,000, including a $100,000 loan from Baton Rouge businessman Lane Grigsby.
PACS for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry also are expected to get involved in the race.
On the other side is a coalition of teacher unions, local school board members, administrators and other education interests that make up the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education, which casts the move to turn over more schools to charter organizations as “privatization” and questions whether charters and other elements of the state accountability system are reaping real benefits.
Boffy, who was named Teacher of the Year for her work at Paul Breaux Middle School, was recognized Sept. 22 by The Independent’s sister publication, ABiz, as a 2011 Women who Mean Business honoree. Read more about her recognition here.
Read more on the BESE race here.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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Our community should be concerned that Mrs. Boffy and her outside funding sources would rather destroy our neighborhood schools than protect them from state takeover.
I will not be supporting a candidate that will give our schools away or allow our local tax dollars to be diverted to fund tax giveaways to New Orleans schools. These are not the values, hopes and dreams that I hold true for our community!
I would hope that the voters of BESE District 7 will see through the Holly Boffy facade.
Don’t allow big money outsiders to speak for you, your children and the future of this state!