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Home > Louisiana Politics & Government > Breaking News
Gov. Jindal's voucher plan gets backing from key
social conservative
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Published: Tuesday, March 06, 2012, 9:15 AM
By Bill Barrow, The Times-Picayune
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The Rev. Gene Mills, president of the Louisiana Family Forum, has emerged as a strong supporter of
the voucher component of Gov. Bobby Jindal's second-term education agenda. In a column
Mills published online Friday, before the package of Jindal bills became public, the influential
lobbyist also joined the governor in opposition to requiring private schools that accept voucher
students to participate in the state testing and accountability program imposed on traditional and
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charter public schools.
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"I am of the impression that the cries
for accountability and testing are a
'poison pill' designed to cripple the
Jindal education reform package," Mills
Louisiana Politics & Government
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of religious and private education."
Mills is a quiet but effective presence
at the Capitol, often distributing "floor
notes" to lawmakers as they consider
bills and organizing citizens to testify in
Scre e n grab, Louisiana Fam ily Forum
vide o
The R e v. Ge ne Mills, he ad of the Louisiana Fam ily Forum
Most Recent
committees before bills reach the floor.
His group also publishes assessments of
legislators' voting records. In recent
years, he has successfully defended
the "Science Education Act" from repeal efforts by scientists and critics who frame it as a back
door to allow the Biblical creation story into K-12 science classrooms; worked to block a bill
expanding Louisiana's school bullying law to specifically protect gay students; and won the
right for homeschooled students to play sports at Louisiana High School Athletic Association
schools.
His latest column refers to a push, represented legislatively in a bill by Sen. Ben Nevers, DBogalusa, that would require participating private schools to test all their students and thus receive
publicly reported letter grades like those assigned annually to all public schools. The Jindal proposal
reflects the Orleans Parish voucher program approved in 2008: Private schools must test only those
students who receive the state scholarship.
Mills wrote: "No church-run school would or should adopt the onerous and unproductive edicts,
mandates, standards, test, philosophies, fees or red tape that so-called 'accountability' imposes.
... The cry for 'accountability' is misdirected. It is designed to stop 'choice' or takeover (sic)
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Gov. Jindal's voucher plan gets backing from key social conservative NOLA.com
private schools, but neither objective will receive the support of Louisiana's faith community."
What's this?
Jindal spokesman Kyle Plotkin expressed a similar sentiment last week when commenting on the
Nevers proposal. "This is a government takeover of private schools," Plotkin said. Nevers served as
A ll Facebook & Twitter accounts
Senate Education Committee chairman during the governor's first term and used the post to soften
the effect of Jindal's K-12 education proposals.
Plotkin and Mills offered other similar angles, as well.
Mills wrote:
Rec
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F da e a i Ch i ia
G a e e ie ce, a e e
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Emil Tompkins and 16 others recommend this.
private education, and parents exercise their God given authority to direct the educational options
Ne O ea Sai
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ed
b i g i ecei e Ra d M
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T e da
for their child rather than an unrelated third party 'expert' who specializes in systems. ... The
51 people recommend this.
separation of children from state control is central to the individual success and the brilliance
Se . Ma La d ie
Oba a ad i i a i
"Accountability does exist in private sector education though: Parents decide success and failure in
behind Gov. Jindal's proposal!"
Plotkin said, "Giving government bureaucrats control is what got us into this mess in the first place.
... We think parents are the best accountability measure, not government." For parents making the
initial choice of private schools, he invoked market principles: "Private schools will have to
a
a e ff agai
d i i g c ai
242 people recommend this.
A eg ia fa hi
h
high igh Ne
O ea ' e e gi g de ig a e
33 people recommend this.
demonstrate that they are the best place for that parent's child." Asked whether forgoing letter
grades shortchanged taxpayers looking for accountability, Plotkin said, "We think parents are the
F acebook social plugin
best accountability measure, not government."
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Mills did not opine in any detail on the expansion of charter schools or restrictions on tenure, the
other two legs of the Jindal plan.
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Jindal is expected to get some kind of voucher expansion through a friendly, Republican-controlled
Legislature, but the question of private-school accountability promises to be one of the fault lines
in the legislative debate. Among Baton Rouge-based advocates and lobbying forces, the Nevers
position is paralleled most closely by the Louisiana Budget Project, a left-leaning organization that
typically might oppose the voucher concept altogether, as do the state's teachers unions.
Sen. Conrad Appel, the Metairie Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee and will
carry the governor's schools bills, said that the accountability push also comes, at least privately,
from business and good-government groups that support the broad framework of Jindal's plan but
are not happy with all the details. Appel did not name specific groups or individuals.
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Gov. Jindal's voucher plan gets backing from key social conservative NOLA.com
Baton Rouge businessman Lane Grigsby, who very publicly plowed his own money and effort into
state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education races last year to help elect a more Jindalfriendly slate, has focused his efforts on charter schools and tenure.
The non-partisan Council for a Better Louisiana and its president Barry Erwin endorse a range of
"school choice" options. Earlier this year, after Jindal unveiled the framework of his ideas at a
Louisiana Association of Business and Industry function, Erwin said the plan is "the most ambitious
and aggressive education reform package Louisiana has seen in many years and marks a clear
departure from any notion of 'business-as-usual' in public education." He told the Monroe NewsStar, "We hope lawmakers and the public will resist the urge to begin drawing the usual political
lines in the sand and instead give these proposals the thorough review and debate they deserve."
But buried on the CABL Web site is a document that clearly states the group's education
priorities: "All choice options should be held to the same accountability measures, tests,
standards and ratings of any other public school."
The govenor's position also differs from what school-choice advocates and legislators generally call
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"the Indiana model," referring to the voucher system introduced by one of Jindal's fellow Republican
chief executives, Gov. Mitch Daniels. In Indiana, the state tracks school-wide performance of
private and parochial schools that accept state-paid tuition. The schools must meet certain
measures to maintain their eligibility to get taxpayer money.
Appel's comments, Grigsby's actions, the CABL position statement and Mills' column, when
considered together, suggest that the legislative session may not simply break down as the
governor vs. teachers unions. Rather, it could be the governor leading separate and distinct groups
on two fronts: those groups whose definition of "education reform" turns more on charter schools
and those who are most interested in vouchers.
Bill Barro
can be contacted at bbarrow@timespica une.com.
Related topics: 2012 legislature, bobby jindal, education bills
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