News

LFT President Steve Monaghan: “Let’s talk about the inherent unfairness of comparing Louisiana children with children in other states, given the current chaos and the documented failure to prepare students, parents, and teachers for these changes,”

(Baton Rouge – July 29, 2014) Moments after the state’s highest education board voted today to sue Gov. Bobby Jindal for blocking the funds to pay for Common Core testing, LFT President Steve Monaghan urged the board to suspend high-stakes testing until the controversy is resolved.

(Baton Rouge - July 18, 2014) The political feud between Gov. Bobby Jindal and Superintendent of Education John White must be resolved quickly so that teachers and their students can get down to the work of education, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

Governor Jindal may boast of victory for steamrolling a package of dubious education “reforms” through the legislature, but many now are asking: What was won, and at what cost?
Choices were made to vilify teachers. Choices were made to frame public schools as failures. Choices were made to blame the unions, the school boards, and/or anyone who dared question the governor’s agenda.

A new public relations slogan from the state’s Department of Education claims that "Louisiana Believes." However, Louisiana educators don’t seem quite ready to believe that what's being pitched comes close to being "the real thing."

(Baton Rouge – May 10, 2012) The Legislature should reject a proposed $3.4 billion public education budget because it violates the state constitution and could enrich as-yet unidentified private companies at the expense of public schools across the state, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said today.

Read more details in the Weekly Legislative Digest - click here.

(Baton Rouge – March 23, 2012) Exhausted state representatives did as they were instructed by the Jindal administration Thursday, staying in session for more than 15 hours to ensure passage of two centerpieces of the governor’s extreme education agenda.

Following the marathon session, Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan questioned the need to steamroll HB 974 and HB 976 so early in the legislative season.

Retired Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Fred Skelton was inducted into the Louisiana AFL-CIO Hall of Fame at the union’s annual convention in Baton Rouge on March 5.

February 27, 2012 was not a good day for good government.

In a more than obvious display of deference to Governor Bobby Jindal, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Monday approved a public school funding formula that would guarantee spending taxpayer money – including local education funds - for private and religious school tuition vouchers.

For the fourth year in a row, Gov. Bobby Jindal proposes a state budget that freezes public education’s Minimum Foundation Program funding at the 2008-09 level.