Vouchers Are Not Real Educational Reform

The following head line appeared in today’s Baton Rouge Advocate :  Jindal addresses group that praised his school plans.

Let's not be confused about this headline, Jindal was praised for giving parents a choice to educate their children in one of the worst school systems in America.  One in which he and his predecessors have done very little to systemically change.

Specifically, the Brown Center on Educational Policy at the Brookings Institution praise Jindal for:

1)      Offering lots of choice through charter schools and voucher programs.

2)      Providing good information to help parents compare schools.

3)      Providing an easy centralized application process for enrollment in the various schools.

4)      Ensuring taxpayer funds follow the students into the schools and courses of their choosing.

It's kind of a ridiculous recognition!  Instead of providing a long range, adequately fund funded school improvement paradigm for ALL students, Louisiana continues to limp along with in-state developed testing programs which deceive the public into believing substantial educational gains are occurring. 

If one examines the historical trends of Louisiana students' academic performance on national assessments, these substantial gains immediately evaporate and one clearly sees that little has changed previous to and during Jindal's educational leadership.  Below is a quote from the Times/Picayune discussing the most recent 2011 national assessment results:

The average marks in both reading and math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for Louisiana's fourth- and eighth-graders improved slightly, and in two of the four categories gained a little on national averages.

But the change from two years ago, when the test was last administered, was not big enough to qualify as statistically significant. Overall, scores in Louisiana still rank near the bottom among other states.

Jindal touts his voucher system as an example of real educational reform taking place in Louisiana. 

He claims that it provides "an opportunity for individuals that have limited resources to enroll their child in a NON-PUBLIC school that is performing well, as opposed to the poor performing PUBLIC school in their neighborhood." 

However, in reality vouchers are just PR and are an avoidance mechanism that fails to address real educational reform for the masses and do little to elevate the educational achievement of the entire state.

Additionally, Jindal needs to learn that he was elected to improve the lives of ALL school age children in the entire state of Louisiana and to stop pitting one socioeconomic class against the other, something he often accuses the president of doing.

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A Sadness I Cannot Fix

Many articles have been written about the heartless and devastating medical care cuts our current governor has forced upon the citizens of this state due his fiscal mismanagement and his attempts to prove nationally that he represents an exemplary model of the ideals espoused by his political party chiefs.  His present plan includes the closing of hospitals, the curtailing of medical services at others, and the laying off of nurses and health care workers.

However, nothing written by media editors can express the emotional pain that those facing these atrocities must endure. 

I found this letter in the Hammond Star which I think clearly delineates how the consumers of these services truly feel:

Dear Editor:

I will have no way of knowing for sure if this letter is printed because I am ashamed to say that sometimes I cannot always find change in my old pockets to buy the newspaper, but I still think a poor old crippled man may still have a voice in this great parish of Tangipahoa, and in America.

I have always been very proud of our parish and of the many good citizens in it. My whole family worked and farmed, and we lived all through hard times in Tangipahoa easily over 150 years.

My grandma died in my mother’s arms. My mother died in my arms. My mother’s younger sister died because of a ruptured appendix. She was like our only child that has never walked.

If there is one thing I learned in this life it is to fight for what is good, and what is right, and for whatever you love and cherish, and my family has always cherished Lallie Kemp Hospital.

Lallie Kemp is a fantastic hospital. It is a wonderful life-saving hospital. A lot of people in our parish are decent, sweet, kind people, and a lot of people cannot afford long trips to other hospitals to acquire hospital care. Convenience plays a large role in keeping thousands upon thousands of Tangipahoa Parish residents in health care because money does not grow on trees, and neither does gasoline.

People are on tight budgets. A lot of people are unfortunately depending on food stamps. Jobs and high-paying jobs are hard to find.

We need our hospital as badly as we need bread. North Oaks is a fantastic hospital, but we have to have Lallie Kenp hospital too. We need our charity hospital very much to continue to keep saving lives.

Our little charity hospital is beautiful, and the doctors, nurses, and staff, and everyone works hard in it. Everyone is polite, kind, and respectful to patients in it.

I am a very crippled man. I’ve got a piece of junk for a car. It just takes too much to keep everything repaired. I am not ashamed to say that I am poor as the driven hell, but I am still a man, and I would stand up or even crawl if I knew I could always do some good for our great hospital. I have two walking canes, one leg, and one foot that keeps me in agonizing pain, but I will tell you the truth like I said: I would crawl on my hands or knees for everything I love, and so I cherish our parish, and everything that is good in it.

May God bless everyone in Tangipahoa Parish, and God bless our hospitals for saving lives. Nothing is more important than saving lives and serving your country.

Cherish all that is dear to your heart. What else would God expect of us?

Always fight for Lallie Kemp. Fight for everything that is sacred in our parish that has brought comfort and love to our lives.

— Leon Joseph Lupo, Tickfaw

God bless you, Leon Joseph Lupo !

How Many Executive Councils Does Bobby Jindal Need?

 

I’m confused!

I just read in today’s paper that Bobby Jindal has hired Gary Graphia, a former top executive for The Shaw Group,  as his new executive council at a six figure salary.

But two months ago he hired Tim Barfield, an ‘old buddy’, to head up the Department of Revenue and circumvented the legislators’ approval in paying him $250,000 a year, more than double what the previous head made,  by adding  the job responsibilities of executive council to the position.  Jindal stated that Mr.  Barfield would serve in BOTH capacities.

In the last three months Jindal has added four six-figure positions to staff totaling over $600,000.00 in annual salaries during a period in which he decreed that he was implementing a  job freeze and no new positions.  These included Mr. Barfield, Mr. Graphia, and a public relations director for the department of education, and  approved another public relations director position to serve the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).    I suspect there are probably more that didn’t make media coverage.

Please remember that Jindal represents the ultimate Republican ideals which include the downsizing of government, coupled with sound fiscal conservatism.

Yet, as he continues to decimate the health care and educational resources in this state in the name of fiscal conservatism, he continues to supply monies for high paying positions to his ‘buddies’ and sadly with NO push back from the legislators elected and paid to care for the well- being of their constituents.

All hail King Bobby!

Our Population Suffers as 'Favored Entities' Profit

Two articles appeared in  today's newspaper that were very disturbing.  The first, that the Jindal administration has not completely closed the more than $800 million Medicaid funding shortfall and is contemplating, beginning October 1^st, cutting more medical services from hospitals in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Houma, Independence, Bogalusa, New Orleans, Pineville, Lake Charles, Monroe and  Shreveport.

The other, that the sacred cow,  the N. O. Jazz and Heritage Foundation receives a state sales tax exemption on all ticket sales.  This practice, which was granted by the legislature in 2011, is presently under review by the State Revenue Study Commission .  This commission was set up this past legislative session to assess the impact  of  these tax exemptions in terms of loss revenues for the state's operating budget.  To my surprise, apparently Madi Gras throws are also exempt.

In arguing to keep the exemption,  Jazz and Heritage Foundation officials responded  “Our concern has always been that we maintain a ticket price that is reasonable.”  They pointed out that removing the exemption would lead to increased ticket prices.   However, if the sales tax exemption were removed, no one is suggesting that they pass this tax charge on to the customer;  ticket prices could remain the same.  Just take a little less profit so hospitals might remain open.

Maybe instead of trying to rip the state off,  the N.O. Jazz and Heritage Foundation ought to try and do something about those damn surcharges they add to every ticket.  The lowest surcharge added is $4 per ticket if you pay cash at the arena, using a credit card at the arena adds per ticket $5.50.  Buy them on-line ahead of time via Ticketmaster adds $8.55 per ticket.  Maybe they ought to stop dealing with Ticketmaster altogether.  Many rock groups have severed their relationship with Ticketmaster in order to provide their audiences with reasonable ticket prices.

In 2012, 450,000 people attended the festival.  Ticket prices averaged around $60.00.  The state sales tax is 4%. 

You do the math.  What a tremendous loss of revenue for the state’s operating budget.

Is Closing Mental Health Facility Immediately Necessary?

St. Tammany Parish residents, and the parish president , in particular, must feel like they’ve been played like fools when learning that the Jindal administration just circumvented legislative procedures to hire the new state revenue secretary, Tim Barfield, at more than double the salary of the previous person in that position.

Apparently Jindal's emergency proclamation of a job freeze by not filling vacancies to balance the budget doesn’t apply to his staff.   He would instead rather close hospitals.

Southeast Louisiana Hospital, in Mandeville, needs $555,000 to remain open until the end of the year, and team Jindal just came up with $250,000 to hire a new revenue secretary for the Revenue Department, which is running just fine with its present interim director.  To circumvent legislative approval of the higher salary, Jindal's boys added the title of executive council to the original job and floated it as a new position.  Again in violation of the administration's own departmental job freeze policy, no new positions.  At least that's what they released as policy through the media to the public.

To make matters worse, Rainwater, Commissioner of Administration, and the  governor’s chief budget advisor,  responding to questions about where the funds would come from to pay the salary said the state EASILY (my caps) can find the EXTRA (my caps) dollars to pay Barfield. He further brushed off the criticism of the inflated salary by stating, “That’s one tenth of one percent of the (revenue) department’s budget.”

Gee, if he would just add another one tenth of one percent of that budget, the folks in St Tammany could have their hospital remain open until the year's end which would give them more time for a possible alternative solution and allow for a smoother transition for the current patients.  Jindal plans to close it October 1st.

Apparently Jindal’s folks will resort to legislative trickery to find the money for themselves and not one dime for the mentally ill in the state.

Does everyone see something wrong with this picture?

One Mo Time

Trust me, I don't want to turn this blog into a full time Jindal bashing.  I'm really trying to concentrate on other issues, but Jindal just keeps astounding me with his off the cuff remarks. So forgive me one more time; I promise I'll try to do better!

Perhaps, our governor needs to check himself into one of the mental health facilities before it closes.  The state is facing a $860 million dollar shortfall in health care funding for the uninsured, over the past four years has reduced financing to colleges and universities by more than 26% of their state funded budgets, has had to use one time monies to balance the state budget this fiscal year, and most legislators, even Jindal's political puppets, claim they don’t know how they will produce a balanced budget next year.

Yet Bobby, in introducing his new revenue leader, Tim Barfield,  stated the following:  “Our top priority next legislative session is to reform Louisiana’s tax system so that we can make our tax code fairer, flatter, and LOWER (my caps) for Louisiana families and business”

At first I thought our governor was completely delusional, lower taxes when the state is near bankruptcy?  But then I realized that all Governor Jindal does is pull out one of his ‘pat’ statements that he always makes without even listening to what he is saying and not even realizing that it isn’t even applicable to the present situation.

He wants everyone in the rest of the country to know he is the ‘no tax guy’ and will use every opportunity to foster his own imagine at the expense of everyone involved in the realities of the situation.

He’s like one of those doll’s my daughter had when she was a child.  You know, the one with the string out the back and you pulled it and the doll said about five or six different things over and over and over again.  

I cannot believe how selfish and self-centered Jindal is when it comes to shepherding the people of this state. 

He simply does not care about the suffering he has caused and will continue to cause for all he was elected to serve. 

Bobby As V.P., In Your Dreams !

The wait is over and Mitt has named his V.P. candidate and much, to only Louisianans’ surprise, Bobby Jindal wasn’t chosen.  The sad part is no one outside of Louisiana ever thought he would be.

In fact, most respected nationally syndicated media outlets repeatedly wrote articles about why he wouldn’t be chosen.  But true to form, Louisiana's media refused to acknowledge the facts and continued to perpetuate the in-state myth.  The truth of the matter being,  HE WAS ONLY CONSIDERED IN A FLEETING MOMENT, BUT NEVER IN A SERIOUS ONE!

However, the delusions about old “Bobby” seem to die hard in Louisiana.

A perfect example of this persistent delirious condition is a recent statement  by former Louisiana’s 4th District U.S. Representative Jim McCrey  when responding to a question about Jindal not being  chosen as V.P. after campaigning hard for Romney.  McCrey responded,   “Now Bobby’s political prospects will be judged solely by his resume of public service, especially his job as Governor of Louisiana.  He has a very bright future in public service if he continues to desire that path in his professional life.”

Let’s see that resume includes:  Cutting colleges' and universities' allocations over $420 million so far during his governorship, gutting financing to public education in grades K-12 by initiating a non-accountable school voucher system, repeated failures to obtain educational grants from  the Feds (losing over $80 million in PreK grants alone), the closing of hospitals, emergency room services, and operating rooms to offset $860 million dollars in cuts to health care for the more than 750,000 uninsured in LA while at the same time refusing additional Medicaid funds being offered to states by the Federal government beginning in 2014, the dismantling of the Office of Group Benefits self-administered PPO Health Insurance Plan for  state teacher retirees which was one of the most successfully run in the nation,  the plan to hire a third party management company for prescription drug allocations for Medicaid patients that will lead to the demise  of small independent pharmacies and the exclusion of certain previously paid for prescription drugs for the sick and elderly, the refusal of Federal funds that would have provided a high speed rail system between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the squandering of $80 million dollars in broadband funds for northern Louisiana, the continuation of business tax credits which are contributing to tremendous deficits within the state budget, and the refusal to conduct a transparent executive branch of government.  The list goes on and on!

In fact, as of 2010, just two years into Bobby's first term as governor, it  was estimated that Governor Jindal had already refused or lost more than $600 million dollars in federal funds for the citizens of Louisiana, and that figure continues to rise even further during his continuing years of reign.

Obviously, I don't get it.  How can anyone from either political party talk about the 'good' Bobby Jindal has done for the people of our state?  In fact, I worry that if he keeps going he will jeopardize all of our present  state retirement systems by forcing the state into bankruptcy.

But,  McCrey and other Louisiana  political experts  are probably correct about one aspect of Bobby’s political future.  If Mitt Romney is elected  he certainly  will  give Bobby a cabinet position.  Most likely it will be a newly created one tailored solely to Jindal’s legacy, the  head of the National Department of Sanitation, whose main focus will be directed towards cleaning up the massive pile of fiscal garbage the Jindal administration has left in Louisiana.

BOBBY JINDAL'S RUBBISH

Now that the dust has settled and Louisiana is implementing Governor Jindal’s new state operating budget that he was able to push through both legislative houses relatively intact, let’s see how things are stacking up:

Education:  When Bobby Jindal first ran for governor one of his main talking points throughout the campaign was how he was going to stem the flow of Louisiana’s brightest and talented students leaving our state to attend other universities throughout the nation and not returning to Louisiana upon graduation.

He has addressed this issue succinctly by cutting aid to education so drastically that now we rank behind one of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti, in the percent of our state budget spent on higher education.

Haiti spends 13% of its budget on higher education while Louisiana now spends less than 11%.  And don’t think that old Mississippi will save the day for us because they devote 17.7% of their budget to that area.

As one editorial columnist, Dayne Sherman, recently put it, “Ole Miss might not be able to beat the Tigers in football, but they’re beating us in academics like a crazed farmer whipping a rented plow horse.”

This year’s budget which began July 1^st has cut another $66 million from colleges and universities. This is in addition to the cuts imposed in previous fiscal years.

For example, over the last four years, Southeastern Louisiana University alone has been cut roughly $40 million or nearly 50% of its state funding.  This fiscal year, the LSU system was cut an additional $29 million, with the Baton Rouge campus taking a $19 million hit.  Let's not even talk about the cuts at the smaller colleges like Nicholls, UNO, ULL and Southern.

This raping of educational funding occurring at a time when an affiliate of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, issued a report giving Louisiana, an ‘F’ for its four year colleges and universities in their ability to retain and graduate their students within a reasonable time. The report says that Louisiana’s four year schools rank in the BOTTOM 10 states in the nation in student retention and completion.

Overall, in the state, funding to colleges and universities has been cut $420 million dollars or 26% during Bobby Jindal’s reign as governor.

And we weren’t spending that much to begin with!

Medical Services:  The hypocrisy of Bobby Jindal really shines through in this area.  During the past legislative session when a group of fiscally conservative legislators tried to prevent Bobby and his crew from using one time monies in the next fiscal year’s proposed budget that began July 1st, they were bombarded by emails and TV infomercials put in place by Bobby’s hatchet men scaring the public about how devastating the cuts would be to the care of the mentally ill and sick in our state.  They professed that any health care services provided to these groups would be non-existent if these legislators pursued their budgetary plans.

Bobby won and the legislators backed off and approved his initial budget.

However, when word of a cut of $860 million to Louisiana’s health care system (more than ten times what our state legislators were considering) arose due to proposed budgetary cuts to Medicaid at the federal level, Jindal was urged by both Republican and Democratic leaders in the state, and our representatives in Congress to personally intervene by calling some of the highest ranking leaders in the U.S. Congress to reconsider this action. 

Jindal’s response was total silence!  He made no such call because he didn’t want to hurt his chances of a V.P. nod by pushing back against his own party’s highest ranking congressional leaders.  Both Senators Vitter and Landrieu were outrage by his complacency.

Congress approved the cuts and Bobby addressed the issue by releasing the following statement, “At the end of the day, Louisiana will have a balanced budget that doesn’t raise taxes on families or businesses.”

Please remember that Jindal was one of a handful of governors that had already refused the additional Medicaid funds that would be available in 2014 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Well, as Jindal claims his budget doesn’t raise taxes but it produces disastrous results for Louisiana’s 750,000 uninsured residents. 

Apparently, Louisianians who suffer from mental illness or other health conditions, and are too poor or infirm to get help are not worth a damn according to Governor Jindal.

One can measure a people, a state, or a nation by how it treats its poor and elderly, its sick and dying, and its homeless and broken souls.

Thanks to Governor Bobby Jindal and his legislative puppets, for the present, Louisiana is failing at all levels in these areas of human decency.

And unfortunately there appears to be no hope in the foreseeable future for Louisiana that Bobby might leave us soon for a V.P. bid.  His college dabbling in exorcism along with his recent TV interview comparing Obamacare to Mardi Gras and his infamous rambling response to Obama’s State of the Union Address in 2009 have permanently closed that gate.

Well, I’ve only looked at two of the major areas affected by King Bobby’s new state budget.  I could look at some additional ones, but I don't want this to be so long that you stop reading.

I will close with this fact.  If for one minute you think that none of this affects you, for you're neither in need of seeking an education, nor poor and sickly, I can assure you that all citizens of Louisiana at some level will sooner or later have a personal experience with Jindal’s fiscal atrocities. 

Violence in Colorado

I was originally going to address the Colorado movie theater killings but was hesitant because I didn't want to hear all the NRA rhetoric and those who interpret any kind of gun control (the key word here being 'control' rather than a ban) as a violation of their constitutional rights.   And let's not forget the infamous line "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."

Then I read what my son, Patrick, thought about the whole mess on Facebook and was so impressed with his response, that I thought it deserved to be shared with all.  It was in reponse to some of his friends giving the standard jargon about their right to own AR-15 guns.

§      I bet if you guys were watching batman in that theatre and he came in there spraying bullets at YOU and YOUR family you'd wish it wasn't from the barrel of an AR-15...Sure everyone has the right to bear arms to protect themselves from a home invader and what not, but I don't know many people that get robbed by 50 people at a time and have to mow em all down with an AR-15 to survive. Sure its "fun" to own one and 99% of people that do are responsible with it, but lets keep it real. The gun is made for killing multiple targets in a quick and effective manner. All political bullshit aside I'd rather the psycho's lose the option of using this type of weapon in exchange for all the "responsible owners" losing their fun factor. Let's face it, no one owns an AR-15 unless they are just trying to have fun with it/show off to their friends/are a gun collector/think the zombie apocalypse is coming/ or in this case, trying to carry out a mass murder.

             Way to go Pat, couldn't have said it better myself !

Bobby Jindal the Exorcist

Today, I learned from the Baton Rouge “Advocate" that Bobby Jindal, our esteemed governor, has a side job; that of an EXORCIST.  It seems that old 'Bobby' use to dabble in the occult when he attended the prestigious Ivy League school Brown University. You can view a parody of his participation at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFiu-KrwdXI

While the video is a spoof, the narrative in the background is 'Reverend' Bobby's actual written account of the proceedings he witnessed. His very presence there makes him a participant in this bizarre occurrence.

It's time for 'Bobby' to pack up his touring bags and head back home to Louisiana, for his chances of a V.P. nod have completely evaporated due his own demented behavior.

No one wants him except for the majority of the citizens in Louisiana.

Once again, we, in this great state are the laughing stock of the entire nation thanks to Bobby Jindal; remember his creationism in schools legislation, his infamous, televised, rambling State of the Union response in 2009 and his most recent comparison of Obamacare to Mardi Gras? 

For further entertainment Google "Bobby Jindal Exorcism"

'Made in USA' label hard to find

The stupidity of our congressional leaders never ceases to amaze me. House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi are all upset about where the U.S. Olympic Team's uniforms are made. 

I’ve got news for them, they best check where the suits, shirts, ties, pants, blouses, skirts, belts,  socks, shoes, stockings and under ware were made that they wore on TV while making their criticisms.   They also better check where the American flags posted throughout the Olympic Village were made.

They need to come into the real world and stop their hypocrisy, for if they and their colleagues had done their job over the years, this issue would be non-existant. 

Today, in order to abide by their decree, our athletes would have to go naked.

Jindal's Strategy Aligned with Country

Shame on the media for reinforcing the cunningness of Bobby Jindal in his attempt to portray himself as some kind of benevolent, moral individual vs. everyone else who doesn’t agree with his policies as evil, no good people.

No one will question our governor’s intelligence, but the media refuses to acknowledge the cunningness, intolerance, and dictatorial approach with which he ‘rules’ this state.

The present political arena in this country has done nothing except to succinctly divide all its population into two groups, bad guys and bad guys.

According to those whose views are aligned with the Right, any policy or belief proposed by those on the Left is un-American, socialistic, pro government regulation, fiscally irresponsible, and totally evil.

Conversely, those aligned with the Left portray those on the Right as out of touch, uncaring individuals only out to help big business and rich folks, obsessed with trickle down economics with little or no government interference or regulation.

In today's American there exists no desire, by either of these groups, to find a middle ground, or to work towards a beneficial compromise for the good of the country.

Bobby Jindal uses this same approach. 

 When he made cuts to the mental health care system in Louisiana, he portrayed the Louisiana State University Administrative Boards as the ‘bad’ guys incapable of properly handling their budgets. 

When his plan to reorganize how aid to the elderly would be provided was questioned, instead of having open dialogue about his proposal, he portrayed the department's senior administrative staff member who challenged it during the legislative committee meeting as some kind of malcontent ‘bad’ guy and fired her.

Additionally, more recently, he set up the teachers so that they would look like the ‘bad’ guys when he wanted to rush his educational plan through the legislature knowing very well it was during LEAP preparation in the schools. 

He figured, and rightfully so, that any teachers or school district who dared to protest his railroading of this plan through the legislature during its opening week could easily be made to look like 'bad' guys for what he termed "abandoning the children" in their time of need during LEAP preparation.

And there was the media giving full support to this deception.  The point being that King Bobby has never held any kind of honest open dialogue about his education plan. Some meetings were held about pieces of the plan with carefully selected educators who had already sold their souls, so to speak, to Governor Jindal, but honest dialogues among those that truly represented the educational community were never held.  And I’m not talking just about union leaders, but instead superintendents, teachers, and board members from successful districts.  

He used his cunningness to ‘bait’ the teachers, and since he pushed them into a corner they were forced to take the ‘bait.’  They never had an opportunity to express their opinions and felt like they were in a desperate situation because of the fast track that Jindal put in place.  Have we learned nothing from what happens when you fast track a major legislative package?  The Universal Health Care plan should serve as a great example.

Personally, I don’t care what your political persuasion is, Republican or Democrat, but I do know that history will support the fact that a DIVIDED COUNTRY WILL NOT SURVIVE and the media needs to stop supporting the divisive tactics used by both parties.

Realities the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board Wants Kept Secret

Having spent most of my professional career in the field of statistics, I can assure the citizens of New Orleans that the latest rate increases proposed by the Sewerage and Water Board will NEVER result in any state of the art improvements in the sewerage or water system.  The system has been so mismanaged and neglected over the years, along with Katrina damage, that the costs to repair it properly are astronomical.

In 2011, by the board’s own estimates of the water delivery system,  over 1,400 miles of pipe must be replaced on the east bank alone plus manholes, valves, meters, mains and booster pumps that blast purified water to customers.  And that doesn’t even address the needs on the west bank.
 
Pre-Katrina cost estimates to repair the water system alone were 3.2 billion dollars and would take 20 years.  During the twenty years, due to inflation, the repair costs would continue to rise at a faster rate than the money taken in even with the rate increase.  The sewerage system estimated repairs were even higher.

FEMA gave the city over 190 million dollars (68 immediately following Katrina plus 125 more in 2010) to repair Katrina damage to the sewerage and water systems.  Have you noted any vast improvements?

It amounts to trying to put out a forest fire with a garden hose.

The present Sewerage and Water Board proposed increases may result in a new electrical system for the pumps, and some new pumps, but the main infra-structure that delivers the clean water to your home and removes the sewer water, namely the pipes themselves, won’t see any improvement.  According to the Sewerage and Water Board over 50% of the purified water pumped to homes daily is lost to leaks in the  water system pipes.  And all of us are aware of the increased street flooding  and sewer backups that now occur.

The system does  need repair, but the present plan of attempting to do it totally on the backs of the customers is not only fiscally irresponsible, but fiscally impossible.  The money will never be used for its intent because there won’t be enough of it.  The monies will just be used for continuing system  patch work  repairs.

It’s time for the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board to level with the citizens of New Orleans. They cannot supply some state of the art water and sewerage system,  and the monies they are requesting is simply an attempt to stem off the Federal Government from leveling tremendous fines if they don’t appear to give the impression that they trying to fix a broken system.

The citizens of New Orleans also need to be aware of the fact that most of the managers and administrators of the Sewerage and Water Board are the same individuals that are responsible for its demise over the years.  Do you really want to trust your monies to the same individuals who lacked the vision and foresight to develop a viable fiscal plan to stem off this present calamity?  It’s time for a total change starting with top management, before implementing any rate increases.

Lousiana's BESE is not about education

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is NOT about the business of educational reform in Louisiana, but, instead, about educational control.  Govenor “Bobby” wanted a BESE Board that would rubber stamp his proposals, some of which included the teaching of creationism in our schools, the expansion of the voucher system, the steering of school management to companies that contributed heavily to elected officials’ campaigns, and the elimination of unions and collective bargaining.

 And contrary to the myth which served as the major campaign talking point upon which these  Jindal candidates were elected, and continues to grow by leaps and bounds in our nation, namely, charter schools are  good, and non-charter schools are bad, education is about how a school is run.  It doesn’t require a charter model to effectively run a school.  It’s all about the school leadership and staff.

As presently implemented in New Orleans, charters for the most part are still about exclusion.  Exclusion upon admission, and exclusion after discipline problems occur.  The present charter system denies both these accusations, but they still exist as the best kept secret, and the population that charters serve encounters this everyday at some level.

I am not condemning the charter approach in general, just that when academic success comparisons are made between charters and non-charters, a level playing field for comparison still doesn’t exist.

But since it is the desire of our re-elected governor to make ALL schools in this state, and particularly in New Orleans, charters, and  he has successfully put all his people in place, soon the data will exist to see if this approach really does work better for there will be nowhere else for the excluded population to go.

It is important for the citizens of the New Orleans community to remember that the non-charter paradigm in this city failed because of a corrupt school board  which mirrored the standard operating model for most entities in this state and New Orleans in particular: the levee board, the judiciary system, the New Orleans Police Department, the security cameras, N.O. police detail work, the bail bonds system, the renovation of Armstrong Park, the Road Home Program, the house elevation program,  etc.

Sadly, the election of the so called Jindal reform candidates for BESE is just a continuance of this practice.

When will John White walk? 7/1/2012

When John White, our present State Superintendant of Education, was initially hired by the Department of Education as Superintendant of the RSD, I couldn’t believe that somehow they had finally found an honest, innovative, hard working educator, unlike his predecessor, who was more concerned about furthering his own career than actually implementing sound educational reforms.

 Mr. White seemed to actually care about solving the Louisiana educational woes and appeared to possess the skills to do so.

However, now I am beginning to worry about him as he sinks further into the dismal abyss known as Jindal politics.

 The Jindal School Voucher System could be his undoing.  He’s smart enough to know that the plan as implemented, without any accountability, is seriously flawed.  He is also aware of the fact that eventually it will lead to tremendous financial hardships for the public school system in Louisiana.  Furthermore, I’m sure he also questions the legality of the entire plan.

 But he is also aware of the reality that exists within the governor’s mansion, ‘it’s Bobby’s way or the highway’.

 However, I still have faith in Mr. White for I feel that he will come to the realization that if he continues down the Jindal path, he will end up selling his soul and joining the ranks of the educational do-nothings that are so abundant in our society.

 Mr. White’s past accomplishments serve as evidence that he will not allow this to occur, consequently, I predict he will soon leave Louisiana and never look back.  It’s only a matter of time until he has had enough of Louisiana (Jindal) politics.