Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek thinks the biggest problem facing Louisiana’s public school system is parish school boards. But a group of north Louisiana legislators say the main obstacle is the high percentage of students who fail to graduate high school in four years, or end up dropping out. While Pastorek has had a tough time getting his measures passed, anti-dropout bills are breezing through both chambers, John Maginnis says. If school boards don’t put the effort and resources into dropout intervention, there is not a lot BESE and the Legislature can do. So perhaps instead of the Legislature setting education policy, it should let BESE do that, while — coming full circle — it should also insist that local school boards do their jobs and not meddle with those of their superintendents.” Maginnis writes. Read his column here.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
