As Jindal pushes for Common Core exit, Legislators voice opinions

For one it could be part of a conspiracy theory (of sort), for the other it’s more a question of administrative trust, but Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Common Core/PARCC announcement Wednesday has local Legislators eyebrows raised.
“The same administration gave (education reform) to us, also gave us Common Core and, yet, today they’re opposed to Common Core,” said Sen. Dan “Blade” Morrish, R-Jennings, at the Acadia Parish School Board’s Personnel/Insurance/Curriculum meeting Wednesday night. “It’s hard to believe in the Department of Education and it’s hard to believe in this administration.”
At its meeting, Morrish and Sen. Jonathan “J.P.” Perry, R-Kaplan, were in attendance to provide legislative reports. Perfect timing, too, with Jindal’s announcement coming hours prior to the meeting. Other area legislators were unable to attend Wednesday night but all had been invited to provide the board insight into the upcoming regular legislative session.
The governor’s Common Core about face took a rather contentious stand Wednesday when he announced he would support legislative plans to remove the state from the program. Jindal proposed that the state’s public schools use grade level expectations approved a decade ago and the standardized testing associated with them – The LEAP and iLEAP testing. Those items would stay in place until new ones were approved and implemented.
Right now, Perry is just happy that the governor has come to what he believes is the correct opinion about Common Core, an issue he labels as “toxic” as the legislators prepare for their regular session.
“I’m very pleased, even though he is outgoing, to see the governor has basically turned and said, ‘This is not right’,” said Perry.
“My personal opinion, and some people say ‘He’s a conspiracy theorist,’ and they’re correct, and the reason I say that is because I truly believe that [Common Core] is the steps to move us toward a nationalized education system.”
Perry went on to add that he believes that he is fearful that should the current tract continue it could spell the end of the local voice in education, including the removal of school boards all together. That is not what Perry wants to see.
“There is no more important issue that needs to stay more local than education.”
Besides that and Perry’s personal views, he reminded all in attendance that Common Core was not the Legislature’s doing, that move falls to Louisiana’s Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“I’ll tell you right now, the BESE board is one of the biggest issues we have,” he said. “Let me tell y’all, and most of y’all know this, but, for the record, the Legislature, we never voted on Common Core. That was BESE implementation of it.”
Last year marked the only legislative action on Common Core, a bill that failed, in which the Legislature tried to postpone Common Core’s implementation back three years.
“The natural thing would be for BESE to do something, but I don’t have any confidence in BESE. None what so ever,” said Morrish. “Most have been appointed or elected through this administration, and I don’t know if I can believe a word this administration says.”
After the session ended and no major action was taken on the antagonistic quagmire, Jindal vowed to remove the state from PARCC testing through executive actions. That move failed and has seen the governor and the state education body going head to head all year. As PARCC testing is now officially underway, Wednesday marked the next move by the governor in the contentious game of educational chess.
Perry is predicting somewhere in the realm of 25 bills being filed this session as the replacement for PARCC is sought. He added that he believes that “there will be more bills filed dealing with that than anything else,” which considering the state’s budgetary situation this year illustrates just how much of a hotbed the issue truly has become statewide, and nationally.
“I’m anxious to see what this proposal is going to be,” said Morrish. “I’m more anxious to see if they’re going to include you (the school boards), if they’re going to include your principals, if they’re going to include your teachers, if they’re going to include your education community in this proposal.
“In my opinion they will not because this administration thinks it is smarter than all those people.”
Perry says it is the issue that has gotten the most attention in all of his years as a state legislator, including his years as a state representative.
He credits parents’ “grassroots” effort for the progress that has been reached thus far and urged parents, educators and so forth to continue voicing their opinions and concern.
As conversation shifted toward opt-outs, Morrish and Superintendent John Bourque swapped numbers. Morrish represents part of Calcasieu Parish, which had roughly 2,000 testing opt-outs, the most in the state. However, the state’s released numbers may be a bit skewed. Currently, the Department of Education shows Acadia Parish testing at 100 percent, however, the parish ended officially with 36 opt-outs. Bourque says he was told the numbers were rounded up as the 36 made up less than 1 percent. But one opt-out means the parish is not testing at 100 percent, drawing into question other numbers reported.
“If you see 100 percent, it’s not 100 percent,” said Bourque.
Numbers were self-reported by the districts to LDOE.
Morrish agrees that the state needs rigorous set of standards, but believes the system in place prior to the Jindal administration’s push for hard education reform was doing the job.
“If you looked around in schools,” said Morrish, “the low-performing schools were advancing, slowly, but they were advancing.
“Teachers, educators, school boards had bought into that program.”