Monday, September 12, 2011

The Recovery School District Releases New Strategic Plan

The Recovery School District (RSD) released its new strategic plan entitled What Will It Take? on Tuesday September 6th.  Shortly after he took the reins at the RSD in May, Superintendent John White created four task forces to help guide the district’s future. These groups met several times throughout the summer.  Based on the feedback that the district received through the task forces, the strategic plan was developed. The plan asks the question “What will it take to get every student in New Orleans on track to graduate from college or to attain a professional career?”

Superintendent White formally presented the plan last Tuesday night at an auditorium at Loyola University. The presentation by the Superintendent was introduced by Representative Walter Leger of New Orleans. There was no opportunity for public comment.

The plan outlines the public input accumulated by the RSD during the Superintendent’s 100 days of listening and lists RSD’s new commitments to New Orleans that seek to address the public’s concerns. The 12 commitments in the plan cover accountability, transparency, school facilities, parent involvement and communication, and more.

Click here to read the plan. Click here  to read our blog highlighting our thoughts on the plan.  For more information about Superintendent White’s 100-day listening period, click here.

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Obama's American Jobs Act to Rebuild and Modernize Schools

In a televised primetime speech on Thursday night, President Obama presented his proposal for the American Jobs Act.  As part of this proposal the President is asking Congress to authorize $30 billion for school modernization; of that amount, $25 billion would be targeted to K-12 schools. These funds would help create jobs while addressing school facility repair and maintenance needs.   The money could be used to make emergency repairs and renovations, increase the energy efficiency of buildings, build new science and computer labs, and update technology.  Funds would be distributed to states according to need, most likely based on the existing Title I funding formula.

The school modernization program in the American Jobs Act is based on a proposal by the 21st Century School Fund and the Economic Policy Institute entitled Fix America’s Schools Today (FAST). The authors of FAST estimate that the total costs of needed improvements to public schools throughout the U.S. exceed $500 billion and that every $1 billion spent on construction and repair creates 9,000 to 10,000 jobs. The Cowen Institute has worked to increase funding for school facilities in the past, but was unable to enact legislation in Louisiana. We hope that FAST will bring much-needed funding for school facilities. 

Click here for the FAST proposal. Click here to read more about the American Jobs Act.

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New Political Action Committee to Support Education Reform

A new political action committee (PAC) entitled the Alliance for Better Classrooms (ABC) announced its formation last week. The PAC plans to advocate for school reforms in Louisiana and to be involved with the upcoming elections for the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. ABC’s steering committee includes former Gov. Buddy Roemer; Lane Grigsby, the chairman of Cajun Industries; Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister; Tim Barfield, the chief development officer for Amedisys; developer Mike Wampold; and Ginger Sawyer of the Louisiana Association of Business and Inudsustry.  The steering committee will review and approve all recommendations for contributions to political campaigns.

Click here to read the article in Baton Rouge’s BusinessReport.com

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$500 Million in State Competitive Early Learning Grants Announced

The Obama administration released the final application and deadline for the Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant program. The goal of the program is to provide more resources to prepare high needs children for kindergarten. Research shows that early learning is critical to childhood development. Awards to states will range from $50 to $100 million depending on state population and proposals. Applications are due on October 19th.

Click here to see the update from Ed Review.

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The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Undergoes Redistricting

In our previous legislative update, we highlighted redistricting for the Orleans Parish School Board.  The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) recently underwent a similar redistricting process. The state is required by the 1965 Voting Rights Act to evaluate voting districts every ten years to ensure equitable representation. The state legislature adopted new boundaries for the BESE districts throughout the state during the 2011 regular legislative session.  Among the many changes to BESE districts, New Orleans residents will now be represented by two seats on BESE—District 1 and District 2. Previously, nearly all of Orleans Parish was in District 2, with only a small section of the parish in District 1. District 1 now covers parts of Uptown and Mid-City. 

Click here to view the new BESE districts and here to see how they changed at a high level.

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