Education group opposes school policies
by Mike Hasten - The Daily Advertiser (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE — The heads of a number of education groups in the state are voicing unified opposition to Gov. Bobby Jindal's public school policies and Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek's leadership of the Department of Education. The education leaders, calling themselves the Coalition for Public Education, are openly exhibiting their displeasure with policies they say are hurting public schools.

In a protest on the Capitol steps Monday, they complained about policies and that Pastorek is focusing too much of limited financial resources on New Orleans schools in the Recovery School District. They also said he is falsely claiming success in turning the schools around. "This coalition is working with legislators to right the course of public education," said John Sartin, president of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents (LASS). He complained of a "heavy-handed" approach used by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in dealing with schools. "The true education reformers in Louisiana are the teachers in the classroom, the superintendents," Sartin said. "We need legislators to listen to the practitioners."

Coalition founder Jack Loup, president of the St. Tammany Parish School Board, said Pastorek directs about $13,000 per student to RSD schools in New Orleans, compared to $5,900 per student in his school system, yet his schools are far more successful. Other school systems are hurting from limited funds. The coalition is forced into the position of "having to defend education in the state of Louisiana," Loup said.