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While the Louisiana Department of Education and media rave about the educational gains in the state, the bottom line is less than a third of the students in the state perform at the basic minimum of the state's standards. And our governor and legislators continue to refuse to assist financially to help this dire situation, but instead simply use sleight of hand techniques to shift the same amount of funding monies from one funding pot to another.
Additionally, while they completely avoid dealing with the education deficiencies in the state, they push for increased funding for programs like the LA Gator Program which is nothing more than a private and parochial school welfare program. Programs like these are simply avoidance programs and fail to deal with the issues of true education reform at the classroom level.
The emphasis on education reform in this state was officially enacted with LEAP legislation in 1986, and after some 40 years approximately 69% of our children are still performing below the state minimum standards.
It is obvious the state is still failing our children. The reality being that Louisiana is the third least educated state in the nation, followed by only by Mississippi, and West Virginia, according to a WalletHub analysis, which compared the 50 states on educational attainment and quality of education. The report further found that Louisiana ranked 47th out of 50 in percentages of residents with high school diplomas, 49th in percentages of residents with associate degrees or some college experience, 47th in percentage of residents with bachelor's degrees and 45th in percentage of residents with graduate or professional degrees.
So, when are Governor Landry and our legislators going to really deal with this problem which has serious implications for the economic growth in our state? Something Governor Landry claims is one of his top priorities. But then again actions speak louder than words and talk is cheap, and so far, there has been little of the former and lots of the latter from our esteemed governor.
Maybe Landry and his crew ought to add another commandment to the list posted in all public schools, namely, "Thou shall adequately address and fund public education in Louisiana"
