Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s school reforms were hailed as “a new national birth of freedom for education,” on Tuesday.
Writing in the
National Review, Patrick Brennan called the changes in the Pelican State, “a huge step forward for conservative policy, especially with the establishment of unprecedented access to school choice.”
He said some 400,000 Louisiana children — nearly half of all kids in the state — will now be eligible for vouchers to pay tuition at private schools as they currently go to schools that received a C grade or lower under the state’s own marking system.
But Brennan said that is only half the story. Public school's should improve as teachers receive greater incentives and be held more accountable as a merit-based system of pay is introduced, and tenure will be reformed to give school superintendents and principals more power at the expense of school boards.
“In response to the success of Jindal’s reforms, teachers’ unions have resorted to their new favorite nuclear option: filing a recall petition,” wrote Brennan.
“Putting a Louisiana recall on the ballot requires the signatures of one-third of registered voters, making it about as likely as an alcohol citation being filed on Bourbon Street. But, as in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin, where unions have seized on his education policies as justification for a recall, Jindal’s opponents are desperate for any way to maintain the levee holding back a tide of competition and reform.”
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