Leadership and Crisis, by Gov. Bobby Jindal: on Education


Bobby Jindal: Reward good teachers with flex pay

In my first year as governor, I proposed a flex pay program for teachers so that school districts could pay more to attract the teachers they need. But local school leaders said they couldn't adopt the program because the unions would make their lives miserable. The union's goal is to convince teachers that seniority is the only fair way to allocate pay. But that's hardly in the interest of individual teachers who want to excel.

In 2010, we passed a value-added teacher evaluation bill geared toward teaching and student achievement. It brings accountability to schools and actually measures teachers and classrooms based on results. This legislation assesses teachers fairly, based on a student's true progress during the course of a year. These data will help to identify the good teachers to reward them.

Source: Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal, p. 67-68 Nov 15, 2010

Bobby Jindal: Pay 90% of public school cost as private & parochial tuition

Competition forces schools to focus on getting results. In my first year in office, we pushed legislation for a student scholarship program in New Orleans. The premise was simple: in New Orleans, we spend roughly $8,400 per child. If parents had a child in a failing public school in New Orleans, I proposed letting them take a maximum of 90% of those funds and use them to pay tuition at a participating private or parochial school. I called it a student scholarship program. It lets parents, and private an parochial schools, decide if they want to participate, and it has essentially no effect on the budget. Indeed, the average scholarship size has been much less: $4,593. Most importantly, this program targets those parents who need it most. In fact, the average income for the scholarship applications we received was $15,564.

Who in their right mind would oppose giving parents such a choice? The education establishment, of course--I was charged with attacking the public schools.

Source: Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal, p. 70 Nov 15, 2010

Bobby Jindal: Tap faith-based groups to run charter schools

The New Orleans charter school system in not perfect. Initially, Louisiana law dictated that charter schools should not "be supported by or affiliated with and religion or religious organization or institution." This was unnecessarily restrictive, because federal laws already prevent publicly funded schools from engaging in religious discrimination or conducting religious instruction. But there is no reason why we shouldn't tap the expertise of churches and faith-based groups to help us reform and enhance our education system. As governor, I have worked to eliminate restrictions that have shut these groups out.

The key to success in charter schools is getting parents and the community involved, so we've tried to make parental involvement as easy as possible. We've also empowered teachers with a new law allowing a traditional school to become a charter school by a simple faculty vote

Source: Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal, p. 74 Nov 15, 2010

Bobby Jindal: I favor whatever works, including vouchers & charters

While liberals hysterically claim school choice would destroy public education, their real concern is their fear of the teacher unions, which lose power to parents through school choice. Liberals also reflexively opposed any policy that might benefit religious schools.

Schools choice takes many forms--vouchers, tax credits, charters, student scholarships, and transfers to better public schools are a few. I favor whatever works, depending on the needs of the community. The successful methods we're using in New Orleans--charter schools and scholarship programs--could serve as a model for other cities looking to secure a good education for their poorest, most vulnerable kids. I'm for what works.

Communities with failing education systems nationwide need to act fast to expand school choice. Telling parents to wait to the failing school in their neighborhood to improve on its own is offensive and absurd.

Source: Leadership and Crisis, by Bobby Jindal, p. 76-77 Nov 15, 2010

  • The above quotations are from Leadership and Crisis,
    by Bobby Jindal.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Education.
  • Click here for other issues (main summary page).
  • Click here for more quotes by Bobby Jindal on Education.
  • Click here for more quotes by Kathleen Blanco on Education.
Candidates and political leaders on Education:

Retiring Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retiring House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retiring House as of Jan. 2015::
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Feb 06, 2014