A bill heard today made history but did not make it out of the Senate Education Committee. A senator suggested a picture be taken when state education official Erin Bendily and Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan sat together at the witness table to oppose Senate Bill 182 by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa. The bill would extend the state scholarship program to fund any student in any public school—as well as homeschoolers—to attend a private school. “If we are going down this road, let’s be fair to all children,” said Nevers, who voted against the school choice bill last week. The kicker is that any participating nonpublic school would administer state accountability tests to all its students and that it would comply with state certification standards for teachers, which is not part of the newly passed scholarship program. That created a split between the Louisiana Association of Educators, which backed Nevers’ bill, and the LFT. The bill was involuntarily deferred. Having passed the major education bills, the Jindal administration turns its attention to pension reform. It supports two bills being heard in the House Retirement Committee today. Read more about those in the full column here.
(John Maginnis will publish a daily update throughout the legislative session on Daily Report PM. The report is also available to LaPolitics Weekly subscribers on the Subscribers Only page at LaPolitics.com. Registration is available on the homepage.)
Louisiana Public Broadcasting is providing a daily video update featuring highlights of the session, which you can see beginning at 6 p.m. here.
