LA education direction validated yet again

It’s becoming old news that most Louisianans never tire of hearing: state children continue to exhibit significant improvement in educational performance, this time concerning the National Assessment of Education Progress exam results.

Termed the “nation’s report card,” exams in fourth and eighth grades every couple of years or so are taken across America, providing a comparative instrument as well as an absolute measure of English and mathematics skills. Since its inception in 1990, through 2019 Louisiana typically has or been close to dragging the rear among the states for all four categories.

No more, In 2022 – the first exam in three years, after commencement of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic – Louisiana at least poked outside the basement, hitting among the states on three categories ranks between 41^st and 44^th and cresting at 38^th for fourth grade reading. While absolute scores didn’t change much from 2019 – in aggregate, across the four they summed close to no change – Louisiana’s ranking improved on average several places because almost all other states lost ground. This occurred not only because of reforms stretching back into the last century but which began picking up steam with major overhauls under Republican former Gov. Bobby Jindal and Superintendent John White that began bearing fruit but also because White’s successor Cade Brumley and the majority on the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education – against the preference of Democrat former Gov. John Bel Edwards and a minority of BESE – refused to order school closings during the pandemic, leaving that decision to districts where the large majority kept operating in-person, avoiding for the most part the documented significant drops in outcomes witnessed elsewhere and particularly in jurisdictions that hesitated to return to in-person schooling.

Trump derangement syndrome strikes LSU again

Maybe the Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center has decided it needs to nip in the bud what otherwise could turn into an epidemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome, by taking action that increases the integrity of higher education in Louisiana and citizens’ confidence in it.

Last year, a professor at LSU Law named Nicholas Bryner encountered some minor trouble when he insulted and demeaned students who supported Republican Pres. Donald Trump. Student recordings of the remarks came to the attention of GOP Gov. Jeff Landry who sent notes including to the law school administration that this conduct merited investigation. Whether that happened is not public, but the boorish and unprofessional behavior displayed by Bryner was, and with a little counseling plus the public outing bringing him deserved ridicule constituted acceptable punishment.

Now, apparently on the first day of class this semester, another law school instructor went much further. Law school administrators suspended for the semester Prof. Ken Levy for remarks made in that class, apparently caught by student recordings to which a media outlet gained access. Although administrators haven’t yet responded to requests for an explanation, perhaps because Levy has engaged counsel to fight that, a review of the media-obtained transcript gives readers a pretty good indication why a suspension not only was proper but also obligatory.

Tactics obvious for strict BC term limits to win

Now that the Oathbreakers on the Bossier City Council have surrendered on the issue of letting the people vote on strict term limits, backers of those amendments still have several steps to take to ensure eventual implementation.

This week, the Council voted unanimously of all present finally to send to the State Bond Commission – months late, according to the city’s charter – amendments petitioned by the public to a three-term lifetime and retroactive limit on the service of city councilors and the mayor. Despite the Charter mandating that the Council do this shortly after petition certification, five councilors – Republicans David Montgomery, Jeff Free, and Vince Maggio, plus Democrat Bubba Williams and independent Jeff Darby – on multiple occasions refused to authorize that.

That charter violation, when prodded by a district court to rectify, brought their refusal. Only when a city resident, Cassie Rogers, aided by fellow members of the Bossier Term Limits Coalition, brought the matter to the attention of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals who affirmed the Council had no option but to resolve the matter to an election and suggested that not only did failure to do so amount to violating their oaths of office but even could rise to the level of a drawing a felony charge of malfeasance, did they capitulate.

Insider moves by Bossier Jury par for course

Leave it to the Bossier Parish Policy Jury not just to double down, but to triple down, on its penchant for insular, insider-run government, as it proved at its last meeting.

This meeting featured the handoff from outgoing parish administrator Butch Ford, whose three-year tenure was marred by his dodging state law that he had to be registered to vote at a parish homestead, which he wasn’t for half of his time in office that the Jury simply ignored, to his successor Ken Ward. Although he served for almost 20 years in a middle-management position in Caddo Parish, Ward had created just for him last year an assistant parish administrator’s position in Bossier Parish, perhaps as a result of many years of service on a parish board that made him familiar to most jurors.

Ward may turn out to be an excellent administrator, but the parish, as has been its wont for decades, conducted no public search that could have attracted experienced and talented candidates. That is an affront to residents who expect the best candidate for the job regardless of whether he is known to, if not friends with, jurors, and a public vetting of all applicants.

Cassidy insulting GOP officials risks little

It’s not that Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy doesn’t want to win reelection, but that he’s gone past the point of return long ago and can afford pettiness in politics.

Last week, GOP state Rep. Roger Wilder claimed Cassidy had reneged on supplying him with tickets to Washington Mardi Gras festivities. During the last part of January traditionally Louisiana’s congressional delegation hosts the event which typically sucks in a lot of state and local politicians, plus more lobbyists than a stick could be shaken at. This demand makes these somewhat valuable for purposes of politicking.

Apparently, Wilder went to secure his promised ones and was told instead he’d get a refund. He says it was his support of Republican state Sen. Blake Miguez, a rumored candidate for Cassidy’s job in 2026, of which Cassidy’s staff got wind and so farmed out the ducats elsewhere.