Governor Landry Signs “Dream Big” Education Plan into Law

Bold change now, to improve our education system 

Lafayette, LA- Today, surrounded by legislators, educators, school kids, and community leaders, Governor Jeff Landry signed into law monumental bills that will transform our education system and bring back common sense in our classrooms.  

Governor signed the LA Gator Scholarship Program into law, which ensures every child has the opportunity of a great education, regardless of where they live. Governor Landry’s Louisiana GATOR (Give All a True Opportunity to Rise) scholarships will allow parents to choose the school that best suits their child’s needs. GATOR Scholarships provide parents with a scholarship account that allows them to customize their child’s education. These scholarship accounts can be used for school tuition and fees, tutoring, educational therapies, textbooks and curricula, dual enrollment courses, uniforms, and transportation. 

Also signed into law today were common sense bills that prioritizes learning over government bureaucracy, returns our curriculum back to the basics, and allows our teachers to teach.  

HB 46, Rep. Edmonston: Removes Covid-19 vaccine requirement 

HB 47, Rep. Edmonston: School immunization communications 

HB 908, Rep. Amedee: Prohibits discrimination based off vaccination status 

HB 320, Rep. Owen: Let Teachers Teach 

HB 121, Rep. Crews: Requires parental consent for preferred pronouns 

HB 122, Rep. Horton: Let Kids be Kids 

SB 205, Sen. Miguez: Teacher compensation  

HB 334, Rep. Amedee: Chaplains 

SB 508, Sen. McMath: Tutoring  

HB 244, Sen. Hughes: Literacy 

HB 267, Rep. Carver: Numeracy  

HB 644, Rep. Dickerson: Home study 

HB 967, Rep. Riser: Teacher retirement 

HB 647, Rep. Romero: Teacher regulations 

HB 424, Rep. Phelps: Grading scale 

HB 940, Rep. Turner: Deferred maintenance  

HB 71, Rep. Horton: Ten Commandments 

SB 313, Sen. Edmonds: Education Scholarship Accounts  

“Today, we fulfilled our promise to bring drastic reform to our education system and bring common sense back to our classrooms. A strong education system leads to a strong economy and a strong state. Our historic Dream Big Package puts the focus back on our kids, and allows Louisiana to follow in the footsteps of our neighbors in the South. I am thankful to the legislature for their commitment to making the education system in Louisiana one that students, parents, and teachers can all be proud of,” said Governor Jeff Landry. 

LANDRY: Why BESE is Wrong on LEAP

Louisiana has dominated the country recently for our athletic achievements. Last month, LSU won college baseball’s World Series - the seventh national championship in program history. In the Spring, Kim Mulkey led LSU’s women’s basketball team to a national title. And this week, LSU became the only SEC school to have the top overall pick in the four major professional drafts (MLB, NBA, WNBA, and NFL). Clearly, our State’s schools can be a breeding ground for champions. So why are we so complacent when it comes to education?  

Recently, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Second Education (BESE), announced its support for a waiver system that would ultimately remove the LEAP test requirement. If BESE were allowing students to opt-out of these exams because they were succeeding -- with excellent grades, strong work ethic, and the ability to complete a special project related to their chosen profession -- that would be one thing. But BESE is actually lowering standards at our public schools simply to pass children through the system like a subpar widget on an industrial conveyor belt – and with that I take issue.   

Granted, it is the opinion of our office that BESE is within the law in removing the LEAP requirement; but just because you can do something does not mean that you should. According to witnesses at a recent school board meeting discussing this very issue, we learned that there are students in this State who are graduating at the top of their class while illiterate. Roughly 46% of our public schools have an “A” or “B” rating while only 30% of their students can read at their grade level. And we have employers in this State complaining because their recent hires can’t read or do basic math. That is probably why some at BESE believe that the Legislature should mandate LEAP tests, removing this decision from their board entirely — because we have to uphold basic standards in education one way or another. 

As the son of a school teacher who was incredibly passionate about her work, I can tell you that if teachers were allowed to teach, inspire and fan an inherent passion for learning, rather than be tied to a multiple choice test, we might not be in this predicament. However, we simply cannot let students graduate from high school and enter the workforce if they cannot read. In fact, students should not be allowed to graduate from the third grade without being able to read — let alone reach college illiterate.   

Yet every time we lower standards for our children we harm them. And I am willing to wager that if a student is able to graduate without being able to reach the most basic levels of proficiency in reading and arithmetic, they will fail in their career endeavors — resulting in many inevitably falling into a life of crime or addiction. It can’t be a coincidence that as we lower our educational standards we also see a surge in juvenile crime, with the consequences for such crimes drastically watered down as well. By reducing our standards, lowering our expectations, and just letting people pass go without any challenges to overcome whatsoever, we produce under-educated citizens for our State who are unable to move up and out of their circumstances, further feeding our sense of hopelessness. 

Of course, this does not apply to athletics. If sports coaches at LSU have poor performances for more than one season, they get fired and their programs are overhauled. Yet our education system has been failing our children for years. And similar to our criminal justice system, we cannot repair the damage done until we have full transparency and complete accountability. Until we achieve that benchmark, voiding this exam does more than hurt our children — it gives us a false sense of security within a failing model. That is why I am calling on BESE to do the right thing and get back to the basics. Otherwise, they do more than fail our children, they fail our entire State — and that’s a trophy no one wants to win. 

Jeff Landry
Louisiana Attorney General

PELICAN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY: Louisiana Education Dashboard

Understanding the data is extremely important in evaluating trends associated with, and the performance of, Louisiana’s elementary and secondary education system. Despite spending the most per student in the southeast U.S., Louisiana consistently ranks at the bottom of the country in public school educational outcomes. While there has been incremental progress, it’s been very slow, and generations of kids have been shortchanged in the knowledge and skills they’ve acquired for their future. Positive change can only happen when there’s honesty and transparency about current performance, high standards for student achievement, a strong plan for school improvement, and a system of choice that empowers parents to select the school that best meets their child’s needs.

With this in mind, the below dashboard provides insights and comparable data on student enrollment, finances, and academic performance. View local data by selecting your parish or school system from the drop-down menu. Individual pages can be printed using the icons at the top right of the dashboard.

Read more: LOUISIANA EDUCATION DASHBOARD

Louisiana Comes in 9th on Heritage's Education Freedom List

Louisiana is #9 on @Heritage's Education Freedom Report Card! It’s great to see, but there is still work to be done. pic.twitter.com/0ZapHlix72

— Louisiana Family Forum (@lafamilyforum) September 12, 2022

Today's battle in education faces:
📎 Fraudulent, woke propaganda disguised as curricula
📎 Union-driven closures
📎 Punitive mask and vaccine mandates

Where does your states rank when it comes to education freedom? https://t.co/NLwp3jo6cK pic.twitter.com/9Ch8a71sKc

— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) September 10, 2022

Louisiana Superintendent of Education Puts Biden on Notice

How Many of the Morally Outraged Who Couldn't Vote for Vitter Happy Now?

Photo source: KATC

Yet another one in the "the hits keep on hitting" books, the "Honor Code" governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, has yet again hit more of the citizens of the state straight between and in the pockets.  In true Democrat fashion, instead of seeking other ways to fund the TOPS program in the state for higher education, letters have been sent out to students and families advising that the program is being cut yet again.  This time, to the tune of upwards of 40%.

In his statement regarding the cuts, Honor Code said the following:

"The upcoming regular session in 2017 will give us another opportunity to stabilize Louisiana’s budget and invest in our children’s futures, and I’m asking the legislature to work with me, so that Louisiana’s students are not left to shoulder the burden of our state’s financial problems.” 

Let me break it down to you in English - we're gonna tax that ass even more..................

Don't blame me.  I voted for Vitter.

Families Affected By "Honor Code's" Lies on School Choice Speak Out

Photo source: YouTube

The below video was recently released by the American Federation for Children and is in response to Gov. Honor Code's cutting of funding for schools of choice. 

New Vitter TV Ad Highlights Plan to Get Louisiana Out of Common Core

“As governor, I’ll cut the amount of money spent on bureaucracy, and put that money right in the classroom where it belongs. I’ll advance early childhood development and work to increase teacher pay, so we can have the best. And we’ll put parents back in charge," says Vitter. "That's not Common Core. That's common sense!"

Vitter has passed legislation to stop Washington’s dangerous plan to take over how we educate our kids. His legislation, the Local Control of Education Act, will prohibit the federal government from mandating, incentivizing, or coercing states to adopt Common Core standards. It would allow Louisiana to opt out of Common Core and still remain eligible for key federal funding. 

Click here to read Vitter’s entire plan for K-12 education

Another Visual Reminder of How Obama Was Elected President

VITTER'S "TOGETHER, LOUISIANA STRONG" EDUCATION PLAN

The following announcement was sent from David Vitter's campaign this morning concerning his plan to improve education for the students in the State of Louisiana.  Vitter has made it a key issue in his campaign, from his amendment that would bar the federal government from pressuring states into implementing the Common Core standards to his new plan he is calling Together, Louisiana Strong.

METAIRIE, LA. – David Vitter (R-LA) today released his proposals to improve education in a new chapter of his plan, “Together, Louisiana Strong: Our blueprint for building a brighter future.” Chapter 3 is called “Dramatically Improving Education for All Our Children.”

Read Vitter’s education plan here
 

“We’ll never achieve the Louisiana we all want without dramatically improving education for all our children. The budget may be our most immediate crisis. But education is our biggest, most important one long-term,” Vitter said. “That’s why I will lead a serious, sustained effort to build true excellence in education. And that begins with demanding local versus federal control and empowering the most important leaders on the front line—parents and teachers.

In Chapter 3 of Together, Louisiana Strong, Vitter details how to get Louisiana out of Common Core, support school choice, and put more state dollars in the classroom instead of spending it on administrative costs. Chapter 3 also highlights the Vitter Record, like how he has authored leading legislation to prohibit the federal government from using Race to the Top grants, No Child Left Behind waivers, or any other tools to mandate, coerce, or bribe states into adopting Common Core, and preserve past grants and waivers while invalidating the strings attached.

“David actually passed legislation that says the feds must not coerce or bribe states into adopting Common Core,” said Sandra Baily-Simmons, Tangipahoa Parish School Board Member.

Vitter’s plan is focused on facing Louisiana’s enormous challenges head on—with strong leadership and real solutions— and taking advantage of historic opportunities and make great gains.

 See the first three chapters of Together, Louisiana Strong here.
 

In addition to “Dramatically Improving Education for All Our Children,” Vitter has already released the first two chapters of the plan.

• Keeping in Touch
• Stabilizing The Budget Through Spending & Tax Reform
   

Vitter has compiled his plan by meeting with Louisianians of all walks of life and by listening to their ideas for building a brighter future. Vitter has held 380 Town Hall Meetings and 203 Telephone Town Halls. As a candidate for Governor, Vitter has held 11 (12th scheduled for this Tuesday) Leadership Forums on the key challenges we face as a state specifically to develop this blueprint, with dozens of informal meetings and conference calls in addition.

Vitter will be releasing additional chapters as they’re added in the next several weeks.