'Nero Fiddles as Rome Burns,’ Aptly Applies to Our Legislators

As state representative Brett Geymann of Lake Charles continues his one man assault on purportedly making our children safe from the evils of Common Core, using already debunked falsehoods, and sometimes outright fabricated lies, to panic Louisianans to rally around his cause, he seems to miss the bigger picture, namely, the collapse of Jindal’s latest budget proposal to run our state next fiscal year.

Perhaps, if Jindal’s present state number crunchers had had the benefits of the Common Core Standards as part of their education, they wouldn’t have made the following errors in Jindal’s latest budget proposal:

A $40 million mistake in their calculations of the amount of money they projected to receive from the tax amnesty program.

A $50 million underestimate in funding for the public school budget.

A short fall of $15 million allocated to the TOPS program.

A $7 million shortfall in the state’s Sheriffs budgets to house prisoners.

Failure to adequately replenish a trust fund for the elderly used to help with nursing home care expenses.

A shortage of funds to cover the health care of individuals who will fall into the Medicaid non-coverage gap as a result of Jindal’s refusal to accept additional Medicaid funding under the Affordable Care Act.

However,  have no fear,  for  I’m sure that as soon as our legislators get done with the important issues of stopping  the Common Core plague,  dealing with a proposal to make our state book the Bible, deciding the fate of a caged tiger at a local gas station, weighing  in on the location of a group home for the mentally ill, and voting to reject a measure to make it illegal to deny selling or leasing property to same sex partners, they will rise to the occasion and deal with their  least important priority, finding  ways to once again, for the seventh time,  balance Bobby’s smoke and mirrors budget on the backs of educational and medical services in our state. 

Obviously, Jindal is in total sync with our legislators regarding the state operating budget, for he is out of town engaging in the more important issue of self- promotion.

Jindal’s Criticism of Common Core Tests Makes No Sense

Help me understand Governor Jindal’s latest attempt for national recognition.  Initially, when Common Core was being adopted by our state, Bobby was so busy traveling throughout the country, self-promoting himself, that he really didn’t pay too much attention to the matter. As the ground swell rose nationally against Common Core, Bobby needed to jump on the band wagon to foster his national image.

Since 90% of Common Core has already been implemented in his state and is fully embraced by his leading appointees, BESE members and the State Superintendent of Education, Bobby has found himself in a pickle because the heavy weights in his party are against Common Cores’ implementation.

So Bobby has come up with the novel approach that the standards might be ok, but the tests designed to measure Common Core Standards success are flawed because he says they are, “ federal, one-size fits all testing.”  I don’t quite understand what that means and, since he’s a Rhodes Scholar, I’m not sure that he even knows what that means.   The tests are designed to assess how our students perform on the standards in comparison to other students nationwide.

Do the terms, NAEP, ITBS, CAT, Stanford Assessment Series, Chicago Early Assessment, GRE, ACT and SAT ring a bell?  All of us, in Louisiana, took one or more of these  assessments sometime during our school career.  They all compared our performance to other students nationwide.

Oh and let’s not forget that it was during Governor Jindal’s term that HE mandated that ALL high school students in the state  take the ACT , a test comparing Louisiana students’ academic performance to others nationally.

Tests for Common Core are being developed by Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, not the feds.  This group is a multi-state consortium working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers.  Since I can’t find the word “federal” mentioned anywhere, I don’t understand the use of that term  in Jindal’s statement.  These tests will compare our students’ Common Core Standards performance with others throughout the nation, just like the ones mentioned above compare the academic performance among students nationwide.  So Bobby’s “one-size fits all testing” is  also a mystery to me.

But Bobby now claims that THIS national comparison assessment is no good, not based upon any item analysis as to the appropriateness of the test items, but simply that state developed assessments would be better.  State developed assessments are permitted to be used with the Common Core Standards, but past evidence falls to support the notion that this would lead to success for Louisiana students, and Governor Jindal  should know this.

We went that route for over 20 years with something known as LEAP and most of our students (68%) were highly successful according to measurement by our state assessment tests.

However, after all these years of using these tests, which showed continual improvement, when our  students were assessed  by the most recent  NATIONAL assessment, NAEP, which  Jindal hasn’t  complained about, our 4^th and 8^th grade students were either  tied for 48^th place or finished dead last in reading and math skills out of the 50 states tested.   Do you really want to trust your child’s educational future again to state assessment tests?  Haven’t these done enough damage?

If our governor really took the time to understand the issues involved with Common Core and its assessment, he might refrain from ‘shoot from the hip’ statements which really add little to the discussion of the entire paradigm.  His present protest doesn’t logically make sense and is simply a desperate attempt to save face with his political pundits.   He so aptly fits the old quote from Mark Twain-“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Don’t Be Fooled by the Rulers of Our State

Several weeks ago I attended a special event in Hammond known as The Legislative Hobnob sponsored by the chamber of commerce chapters in our area.  Several of our legislators were invited and a few showed up to present the legislative packages they were proposing for the upcoming session.

All stressed the fact of how important it was to hear their constituents’ concerns regarding issues in our state. I found that part of their presentation somewhat amusing.  Have you ever emailed your representative and gotten a reply?  If so, please let me know which ones did answer.  I have emailed many representatives in our surrounding area and have NEVER received a reply.  Not even an automated acknowledgement that they received my emails.

Now granted, an automated reply doesn’t guarantee that they will read your email, but at least it isn’t so blatantly obvious that they just don’t care, and besides, it’s just plain bad manners not to respond in some fashion.

Perhaps our elected government servants set up email accounts because it’s the politically correct thing to do, give people the impression that they are concerned about the ‘average guys/gals’ concerns.

Oh, and by the way, it is not just our legislators.   BESE members and the governor’s office also never respond.  Nothing , it’s like your email has been delivered to some ‘black hole’ in space.

In fact, the only state official ever to respond was John White, State Superintendent of Education.  Don’t know how he does it, but he almost immediately responds on his iPhone, and it is not automated.

So the rulers of our state need to stop fooling us, and save the tax payers some money (yes, your taxes pay for their email service) by cancelling their email accounts.  For if you’re not  a member of a PAC, a powerful lobby group, or big campaign contributor, most likely our elected and appointed PUBLIC servants will not even extend to you the common courtesy of acknowledging your time for writing to them.

Maybe we should just keep a list of who doesn’t respond and publish it in the news media during election time.

Hypocrisy is alive and well in Louisiana

 

The GOP, along with Governor Bobby Jindal, have issued a demand that U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister, the man caught ‘passionately kissing’ one of his staff members should resign.  Since he ran and won election on the theme of Christian family values, the Republicans have accused him of ‘hypocrisy.’  Roger Villere, Jr., chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party chimed in that McAllister’s actions are “why people are fed up with politics.”

 

The way I see it, the hypocrisy doesn’t just apply to McAllister, but to the GOP itself.  When U.S. Sen. David Vitter was caught doing more than just ‘passionately kissing’ a whore (which he admitted), the GOP boys came up with all kinds of excuses not to invoke legislative censorship or demand his resignation.  I guess they figured that since his actions weren’t caught on a cell phone, everything was ok.

 

But as confusing as this may sound, now they are endorsing him as a candidate for the governor of Louisiana.

 

Therein lies the true hypocrisy.  And to boot, most of our registered Republicans will vote for him. Hypocrisy at its finest!

Jindal Sets Up His Own Exclusive Club

Two weeks ago the Associate Press ran a story about Republican standouts being considered as possible candidates for president.  Guess whose name was not even mentioned?  Bobby Jindal.

Last week, a poll was taken among prominent Republicans asking them to choose individuals whom they felt would make a good presidential candidate.  Bobby could muster only 2% in his camp.

I guess since Bobby figured no one outside Louisiana really considers him a plausible candidate, he’d set up his own club, known as a Political Action Committee (PAC).  The name of his club is Stand Up to Washington and, although Bobby claims its purpose is to help fund conservative candidates in their run for Congress, the real purpose is for self- promotion.  The PAC will give Bobby the opportunity to mingle with well-moneyed people,  make powerful new friends, and perhaps convince them that he’s not the vindictive, elitist,  self-centered , spoiled child, ‘shoot from the hip’, kind of guy that he appears to be.

However, I suspect that deep down inside, Jindal realizes that he doesn’t even have a remote chance of landing the Republican presidential nomination.  But I bet what Bobby is really shooting for is the vice president nomination.  His ego would never let him admit that publicly, so let’s stay tuned and  see what happens.

An Open Letter to Rep. Brett Geymann, Lake Charles and Rep. Cameron Henry, Metairie in Opposing Common Core

 

Since legislative mandate in 1986, Louisiana has patterned the education of its youth around state developed teaching standards and assessments. In case you have forgotten, this paradigm was known as the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP).  We held students back and denied graduation to seniors who did not meet these state standards.  The latest national assessment (NAEP) of Louisiana 4^th and 8^th graders in the areas of reading and math skills found them either tied for 48^th place or dead last out of the 50 states tested.  This, after almost 30 years and billions of tax payers dollars spent using, as you propose, Louisiana developed standards and assessments.

 

Why we anyone in their right mind trust the education of their child to the so called ‘educational experts’ in our state?  If I were designing educational standards, I wouldn’t even ask for Louisiana’s opinion as to their appropriateness. 

 

Your present legislation against the adoption of the Common Core Standards, developed by a consortium of educational experts throughout the country, is a total disservice to the youth of Louisiana.  As Mark Twain so aptly put it, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.” 

 

What’s the connection with this consultant?

Governor Bobby Jindal just hired for $4.2 million, without public bid, the New York consulting firm of Alvarez and Marsal to find ways the state can save money.  Although the irony of this is quite self- evident, my immediate concern is directed towards the consulting firm itself.   Prior to Jindal’s latest hiring, this same firm was given the job of assessing the state’s tax structure, when Jindal started his push for elimination of the state income tax, which failed to gain support.  Just how much the firm was paid for these services is unclear, and whether this was another no bid contract is also unclear.

Apparently, Alvarez and Marsal have a long history with the state of Louisiana which spans different governors’ tenures.   I traced it as far back as June, 2005,  when the then State Superintendent of Education, Cecil Picard, demanded that the New Orleans Public School Board hire the consulting firm, Alvarez and Marsal, to restructure the financial and administrative operations of the 127 schools under its control.  Whether this was a no bid contract, or not, still remains a mystery.  However, this marked the beginning of a school system take-over plan, by the state, which Picard convinced, the then governor, Kathleen Blanco, was necessary to improve the schools in the city of New Orleans.

August, 2005, Katrina hit, and the consulting firm was elevated, without public bid, to the job of overseeing the renovating, repairing, and rebuilding of the New Orleans Public School System.  Part of this involved replacing the interim superintendent of the school system with an Alvarez and Marsal consultant who held a master’s degree in business administration.

Financially, 2005 was great year for Alvarez and Marsal for by the end of that year it was estimated that the consulting firm was paid more than $50 million with tax payers’ money, with billing fees ranging from $150 to $500 an hour.  What started out as basically accounting related responsibilities ballooned into a very lucrative enterprise after Katrina hit. 

The firm’s contracts continued, unchallenged,  for additional years despite the fact that one of its chief assignments after Katrina, the disposition of left-over NOPS real estate, was handled without the services of a single local architect, engineer, or construction expert.  It was estimated that this omission cost the city a year of progress in determining how and where to build damaged schools and jeopardized hundreds of millions of FEMA monies.  The total money paid to the firm for the New Orleans’ project is well hidden because of the different accounts utilized.

How this out of state firm, Alvarez and Marsal, first immerged on the scene, how many contracts it has received, and  how it continues to obtain lucrative, sometimes no bid contracts,  remain a mystery-one that certainly demands better investigation by the media.  Why is Louisiana continuing to export all this money out of state to this firm?

A lesson learned from Baton Rouge

New Orleans may be the fun capital of Louisiana, but Baton Rouge is on the fast track to be the economic capital.  The Standard and Poor’s Rating Service just upgraded Baton Rouge’s credit rating to ‘AAA’, the highest in the state.

While New Orleans has chosen to rely almost entirely on tourism to support its economy, Baton Rouge has chosen to take a more realistic, diversified business approach.  One less influenced by the whims of the national economy.

Even though Baton Rouge is our capital city, it has always played second fiddle to New Orleans.  However that appears to be changing.  While Standard and Poor’s assigns a lower rating of ‘A’ to New Orleans, the Finch Rating Service just recently downgraded New Orleans to the negative category of ‘A-‘.  This negative outlook is based on the city's finances, which remains a credit weakness.  Efforts by the current Landrieu administration to regain structural budgetary balance have shown gains, but new challenges in the form of jail and police mandated spending, and fireman pension contributions place additional pressure on the city’s operations.

Additionally, the city continues to depend heavily on federal recovery monies from Katrina to help finance its infrastructure needs.   Soon these funds will cease.

While the residents of New Orleans continue to feverishly defend their city as the best city for partying and eating in the world,  maybe it’s time for them to pull their heads out of the sand and face the realities of our present day economic system for city survival.

Presently, New Orleans relies disproportionately on federal grants for its budgetary needs.  A funding source destined to be drastically reduced due to the present political agendas operating at the national level.

Bottom line, New Orleans can no longer continue to survive on a t-shirt, tourism economy.  As repulsive as this may sound to New Orleans, it’s time to take a lesson from Baton Rouge.