News

Although the final decisions will be up to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, steps were taken this week to make Louisiana’s teacher evaluation system fairer and more accurate. The biggest of these is a recommendation to suspend Value Added Model component of teacher evaluations for another year.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has ranked Louisiana as the second highest of all the states, based on how our state’s charter school law aligns with the organization’s model law. Their rankings reward states for making charter schools less accountable to local voters and taxpayers.

In a recent editorial, The Advocate noted that the Supreme Court’s reversal of a lower court ruling that Act 1 of 2012 violated the constitutional prohibition on bundling multiple objects into a single bill is troubling.

Click here for more coverage of the LFT 50th Anniversary!

Speaking to more than 200 delegates and guests at the Louisiana Federation of Teachers’ 50th Annual Convention, LFT President Steve Monaghan called for reclaiming the promise of public education and returning the joy to teaching and learning.

Obviously the Louisiana Federation of Teachers is disappointed by the high court’s decision. After a district court ruled three times that Act 1 is wholly or in part unconstitutional, we had hoped for a different outcome.

LFT President Steve Monaghan: “Let’s talk about the inherent unfairness of comparing Louisiana children with children in other states, given the current chaos and the documented failure to prepare students, parents, and teachers for these changes,”

(Baton Rouge – July 29, 2014) Moments after the state’s highest education board voted today to sue Gov. Bobby Jindal for blocking the funds to pay for Common Core testing, LFT President Steve Monaghan urged the board to suspend high-stakes testing until the controversy is resolved.

(Baton Rouge - July 18, 2014) The political feud between Gov. Bobby Jindal and Superintendent of Education John White must be resolved quickly so that teachers and their students can get down to the work of education, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

Read more details in the Weekly Legislative Digest - click here.

(Baton Rouge – March 23, 2012) Exhausted state representatives did as they were instructed by the Jindal administration Thursday, staying in session for more than 15 hours to ensure passage of two centerpieces of the governor’s extreme education agenda.

Following the marathon session, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan questioned the need to steamroll HB 974 and HB 976 so early in the legislative season.