Judge calls education waiver law unconstitutional

A state teachers union has won its court challenge of a law pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal to let public schools waive certain state education regulations. State District Judge Mike Caldwell declared the law unconstitutional today. The Louisiana Federation of Teachers, along with the East Baton Rouge and Jefferson parish chapters of the union, filed the lawsuit last year after Jindal signed the bill into law. The unions claimed the waiver law is unconstitutional because it delegates legislative authority to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and because it carves out special exemptions for individual public schools. Supporters say the waivers can help troubled schools by giving them the flexibility allowed in charter schools, which are publicly financed but run without many of the requirements governing traditional public schools.