The State Constitution promises noble goals for public education. Here's how to meet them.

By Steve Monaghan, President, Louisiana Federation of Teachers

(Baton Rouge – December 16, 2008)  Our state is now facing a $1.1 billion budget shortfall, and the Louisana Federation of Teachers is advocating well-targeted investments in public education funding that could amount to billions over the next decade. That may sound like foolishness, but please hear us out.

First, let’s talk about the looming deficit. It is real, but it was not unavoidable. Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck in 2005, our budget has been flush with hurricane dollars and energy revenue. Even though it was generally understood that the cascade of cash would not last, billions of dollars worth of tax breaks and giveaways – some seriously undermining prior efforts to diversify Louisiana’s revenue base and to avoid an over-reliance on oil revenues – were approved by our elected leaders.

Last year alone, the legislature approved tax breaks amounting to more than $2.4 billion over six years, with no offsetting revenue sources considered. The news from the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference about the shortfall is simply the logical result of bad decisions. Instead of a broad tax base that fairly assess citizens and businesses for the services provided by government, we are once again too dependent on the petroleum industry for our needs. We failed to learn the lessons of history and economics, and are now facing the consequences.

So now the legislature will be asked to make Sophie’s choice, a lose/lose situation that will pit education against health care against rebuilding our roads and bridges against strengthening the coast line in preparation for the next big storm.

If our leadership stays true to form, the coming legislative session will be marked by budget cuts that reduce the programs and services our people need. That in turn will exacerbate the on-going outmigration of educated, productive citizens – precisely the people we need to turn our state around.

But what if we were to look at things differently. What if we as a people make a decision to take on our long list of unmet or deferred needs, particularly regarding public education. What if we were to look at well-targeted investments in public education as engines of economic development.

Despite the current economic instability, we at the Louisiana Federation of Teachers believe that we must protect elementary, secondary and higher education from significant budget cuts. Indeed, we must find ways to significantly enhance our investment in education.

For several years now, this Federation has argued forcefully that we have yet to align our achievement goals with the resources necessary to meet these goals. What does it cost to educate our children, to provide each of them with what Superintendent Paul Pastorek refers to as a “world-class education?” Do we have the texts, technology, facilities and personnel that are necessary? What do these components cost?

That is a missing piece to the school reform agenda of which the State Department of Education is certainly aware. Lessons have been learned about the cost of education in post-Katrina New Orleans. Historical neglect has been followed by per-pupil expenditures in the Recovery School District that are more than twice what is spent in the rest of Louisiana’s public schools.

The cost of neglect has been high. A very recent study indicates that Louisiana’s school building infrastructure needs about $7 billion to be brought up to acceptable standards. That is just to make our school buildings adequate to accomplish their mission, and does not address other needs like up-to-date textbooks and learning materials, or providing teachers and school employees with nationally competitive salaries.

In recent announcements, Governor Bobby Jindal noted that student achievement requires a “zero tolerance for disruptions in the classroom” and that student discipline directly impacts both student achievement and teacher recruitment and retention. Recent Federation surveys of Louisiana teachers confirm the conclusion that student discipline is a contributing factor to teacher turnover.

But that is not the only reason teachers leave our profession. Low salaries, substandard working and learning conditions, impossible expectations, and the lack of community and parental support also contribute to the frightening exodus of teachers from Louisiana’s classrooms.

We believe that resolving all these issues requires a different approach to public education than we have taken in the past. Delegates to the Federation’s 2008 LFT Convention called for a bolder, broader vision for the education of all of Louisiana’s children This vision will help to guide our organization’s legislative agenda, and includes a call for the following:

• The creations of schools which are vital and central to the community. The physical health and appearance of such schools should reflect our commitment to their vital and central role.
• A political and community commitment to early childhood education, child health and nutrition, summer programs and parenting programs (to foster a greater understanding of parental responsibilities and the importance of education).
• A commitment to academic and cognitive growth as well as the development of the whole child (which must include the development of the child’s academic, physical health, character, and social skills). 
• A commitment to school improvement that contains a measurable and goal-oriented commitment to the recruitment and retention of high quality teachers in every school.
• The awareness at every level of decision-making that standardized tests alone will not guarantee that children will have the knowledge and skills required to participate in our constantly changing world. Critical thinking skills, emotional and intellectual adaptability, and an appreciation and understanding of the arts as well as science are essential characteristics of an educated citizenry.
 
A bolder, broader vision and approach to public education compels all stake-holders to work together to secure the funding necessary to deliver that which is eloquently and nobly promoted in the Preamble of Article 8 of the Louisiana State Constitution:  “The goal of the public education system is to provide learning environments and experiences, at all stages of human development, that are humane, just, and designed to promote excellence in order that every individual may be afforded an equal opportunity to develop to his full potential.”

We certainly have not delivered on the promise of these words. We have, though, begun to make some progress. To continue that progress we must tackle two vital questions: how much should an education cost and where will the money come from. Not until those questions are answered will we truly be on the road toward building a world class education system.