Civil war
To the publisher:
Eliminating Civil Service is an option as long as all of higher education becomes private or free-enterprise higher education without a nickel of taxpayer money poured into the pockets of the already overpaid professors and administrators [“Publisher’s View,” Dec. 15].
By recommending the elimination of Civil Service and eliminating tenure in K-12 speaks loudly and clearly of your connection to the politics as usual in this state. The biggest government waste isn’t in the public-education system of K-12, although I realize there are far too many teachers who are not well qualified; the situation is rampant in higher education, where the really big tax dollars are tossed.
Higher education is where tenure must be eliminated. A few in the higher-education systems are not overpaid; however, the majority are paid double and, in many cases, triple their worth and guaranteed employment ‘til death do they part, then walk away with tons of benefits afforded by the taxpayers in this state.
Build from the bottom up, tear down from the top; otherwise, higher education is about to implode with inflated salaries and tenured positions.
Take a look at the at-will-created nonclassified positions where someone [including auditors] overlooked advertising the positions and simply slipped a political contact into a position created for a friend or relative who otherwise might have been unemployed or had to hunt and compete to find a real job. Remove all tax dollars from the entire education system or stop trampling on those who are underpaid and doing the real work so the overpaid can hold positions of power.
You propose to damage the framework of the education system so the top can live high on the hog. Your idea will destroy the already-shaky educational system and those who are doing the real work and keeping those overpaid individuals on a tenured pedestal.
It is possible to clean the system only if a person[s] who has/have seen firsthand the shenanigans from the inside out over a period of time and who can and will circulate among each agency, observe and report completely without a personal bias the happenings and determine where cuts are needed and where revamping is needed.
A person must not be allowed to serve in that capacity more than two years and must not be paid an amount that would encourage more corruption and/or head-turning. It is possible to find retired or retiring people who could and would be honest in a position of evaluating and reporting the abuses of power and money waste.
Otherwise, if your recommendation to completely eliminate Civil Service and remove tenure from K-12 becomes reality, I urge the governor and Legislature to remove all taxpayer dollars from every level of education in the state and allow the entire education system to become free enterprise.
Flo Stringer, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston
To the publisher:
Eliminate Civil Service? Are you insane? As much as I despise the whole state-worker-entitlement mentality, the Civil Service system is the only thing that keeps state workers from being politicized. In the banana republic that is Louisiana politics, every department would be used as a campaign organization for the petty dictator running it. And any safeguards that would be enacted would either be filled with loopholes or just as messed up as Civil Service.
John Miller, Baton Rouge
Miles to go
To the publisher:
For someone who doesn’t normally write about sports, Publisher Rolfe McCollister succinctly made the case for removing Les Miles as head football coach at LSU [“Publisher’s View,” Dec. 1]. Miles’ lack of leadership at a time when his team desperately needed him is, as Mr. McCollister wrote, “inexcusable.” And unforgivable as well. When called on to explain his actions, the best Miles could do was admit that he is learning on the job. There’s not a high-profile CEO in America who could have survived that.
LSU fans are constantly reminded of the high cost of competing in the Southeastern Conference. They are asked to part with ever-increasing amounts of discretionary income for the LSU sports program, part of which funds Miles’ extraordinarily high salary. Is it too much for those fans to expect the LSU decision-makers to realize their own responsibilities when it comes to competing at this level?
Miles has demonstrated his failure to lead. By keeping him at the head of its crown-jewel football program, LSU is following the Miles example.
Preston L. Kennedy, Zachary
