With two amendments attached, the House-passed teacher tenure bill cleared the Senate today, 23-16. It now goes back to the House for concurrence. Neither amendment makes major changes to House Bill 974. One by Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, would grant a second evaluation to a teacher who was rated “highly effective” according to standardized tests results but “ineffective” in the observation portion of the evaluation. Teachers standing and sitting on the Capitol steps today listened to the audio from the state Senate while more teachers packed the Senate gallery, cheering or jeering in response to debate, as the upper chamber began what could be the final legislative step for the governor’s education agenda. To move it toward the governor’s desk this week, though, would probably have required the Senate to pass the teacher tenure and school choice bills—HB 974 and HB 976—without amendments. The governor’s office has stated it wants the upper chamber to pass the bills as they are, but that might be beyond Senate President John Alario’s considerable skills. All this week some senators have questioned if the governor’s team has the votes to pass the House bills without changes. “You can’t stop the amendments. I’ve walked these aisles,” Sen. Robert Adley, R-Benton, said on Tuesday. He cited possible changes to address local funding, transparency, and legal questions. “[The administration] better decide which ones they want,” he said. As of press time, the only amendments passed were those concerning the tenure bill.
—In the first counteroffensive to the governor’s agenda, Democrats tried and failed to get committee approval for a bill to delay by one year the new performance-based teacher evaluation plan set for implementation this fall. HB 100 by Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, was involuntarily deferred, 11-6, on a vote along party lines in the House Education Committee. Edwards and a string of testifying teachers and school officials said flaws remained in the newly crafted evaluation system. They noted that the proposed new tenure system would not take effect until 2013, so there would be no harm in postponing the evaluation plan for a year too.”If we don’t do this right out of the gate, what we will see through grievances and legal challenges, this system will collapse of its own weight.” Supporters of the bill, including Superintendent John White, called the system fair and ready to be adopted statewide. Rep. John Schroder, R-Covington, told Edwards, “I’m not wholly opposed” to the concept of postponement, but that problems in the tenure bill could be addressed in the Senate today.
(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.
Editor’s note: This story has been changed since its original publication.
