News alert: Jindal unveils education reform plan

Overhauling teacher tenure laws, shifting more accountability and power to principals, making it easer to launch charter schools, expanding the voucher program statewide, and changing laws to allow state funding to follow students instead of districts are all included in Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to reform education. Jindal outlined his plan today at a Louisiana Association of Business and Industry meeting in Baton Rouge. Jindal says his reforms will empower school districts to take control of their own success or failure by giving them the flexibility to create their own salary scales, based on accountability measures they set themselves, and reserve tenure status for only those teachers who have received high marks from their schools for five or more years. The plan would also make it easier to establish charter schools by "fast-tracking operators with proven track records," and giving operators who want to open schools in districts with grades of D and F the opportunity to apply directly to the state. Jindal says he also wants to create an accountability system for early childhood programs. See the complete outline of Jindal's reform proposal here.

Today's poll question: Do you think Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan for education reform will be successful?