On Monday, Mike Lunsford had a story, which we ran here at The Hayride, about the implementation of the GATOR Scholarship school-choice program passed in this year’s regular session of the Louisiana legislature. That was a signature piece of legislation for Gov. Jeff Landry, and it passed overwhelmingly after a pretty good amount of back-and-forth between the House and the Senate.
Lunsford warns that a key step in getting the program, which is supposed to become Louisiana’s version of the Educational Savings Account model of unlimited school choice (something the voters of this state overwhelmingly demand), is in jeopardy of failing.
He begins with a recitation of the bill’s passage, and then walks the reader through the follow-through…
Now that the bill has been passed, everyone thought it was over. After all, we passed a bill. That means it’s finished, right? We’re finally embarking on this multi-step journey where any child in Louisiana can finally attend the school of their choice. After years of talking, no student will be held back from their true potential due to a lack of resources. A failing school system will no longer become a life sentence of hopelessness and lack of opportunity. If you’re unfamiliar with the three steps for universal school choice, here they are: In phase one the following students are eligible: (1) any student entering kindergarten; (2) those who attended a public school in the prior year; or (3) a student with a family income below 250% of federal poverty guidelines. In phase two, in addition to those eligible in phase one, students with a family income below 400% of federal poverty guidelines are able to apply, and phase three provides for “universal” eligibility. However, there’s still a process to ensure the law changes are implemented. That process contains some common-sense oversight to assure the public that everything is done correctly. However, these checks can also be turned and used as an Achilles Heel.
And where we are is…
RS 17:4037.5(B), which doesn’t appear to have been added to the legislature’s website yet, can only be found in the text of SB313. It appears on page 8 of Act 1. Vis: B. The department may enter into any contract for the administration and management of the program or parts of the program subject to the approval of the state board and the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget. The state board is BESE, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, sometimes called JLCB, is an obscure committee we’ve rarely discussed here at Citizens for a New Louisiana. Nevertheless, this committee must agree with BESE before engaging a program administrator. At their October 8th meeting, BESE unanimously approved an agreement for an organization named Odyssey to create and manage a web portal for the program, among other things. The discussion began at about the two-and-a-half-minute mark, with unanimous consent occurring at about the 26-minute mark. The agreement commences on October 28th. With the JLCB meeting scheduled for October 25th, this process seems to be moving along relatively smoothly. Former legislator and current BESE member Lance Harris even asked a few questions he thought would be important during the upcoming meeting of the JLCB. At that time, the JLCB meeting agenda hadn’t been posted yet.
But what has happened is that, at least as of this morning, the Odyssey contract hadn’t been put on the JLCB agenda. There is some talk about it maybe being tentatively on the agenda for November 15, which doesn’t work and does damage to the process.
Glen Womack, the state senator from Harrisonburg who chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, isn’t a particular supporter of school choice. He didn’t back Sen. Rick Edmonds’ bill which established the GATOR Scholarship program. That really shouldn’t be all that big of a problem, though.
Womack is going to put the contract on the committee’s agenda before Friday.
How do we know this?
Because he wouldn’t dare kill this contract, which the contractor isn’t going to do any work on until they get paid, which won’t happen without JLCB approval, and by the way the contractor can pull out of the contract any time they want and nobody could blame them, if Louisiana’s Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget refuses to honor the legislation the state legislature has passed, for pulling out.
If Glen Womack were to engineer that catastrophe, he’d become pretty famous.
He’d then be the face of the anti-school choice movement in Louisiana. Not only that, he’d be the guy responsible for preserving the education status quo in the state that nobody thinks is acceptable.
He’d get a nickname like Stupid Glen. Or Glen The Ignorant. Maybe even Glen The Teachers’ Union Pet Womack. Possibly Glen The Snake.
Or worse.
Maybe he’d survive that politically, but if he ever had designs on anything beyond the state senate, he could certainly put those on the shelf.
So no. This is not something we’re concerned about. It’s inconceivable that Womack and his committee would knowingly jeopardize the state’s new school choice program which has passed the legislature and was signed by the governor, and in so doing create a state of war with the governor and the people who elected them.
Nobody is that stupid.
If the members of JLCB have questions about the contract, well, put it on the agenda and ask those questions. Not doing so smacks of sneaky back-stabbing and intrigue, and people don’t like that particularly when they already have a very low opinion of politicians.
So we’re pretty sure this will all get cleared up before Friday.