PAR backs school board reforms

The Public Affairs Research Council says it backs a plan to reform local school boards to give superintendents more power over day-to-day district operations. The reforms that PAR is supporting largely back reforms that state education Superintendent Paul Pastorek is pushing, such as term limits for board members. In some ways, the reforms are a little less tough than what Pastorek wants—for example, he has advocated taking away board member salaries. PAR says school board members should get a limited per diem. “None of the proposed reforms would usurp local control of school districts. Local school boards still would have the ability to set overall district policy and to hire and fire the superintendent,” says PAR, which says the Legislature should vote on the bills this session. State Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, has filed bills to enact Pastorek’s recommendations.