BESE not being fair to White
Published 6:00 pm Monday, August 19, 2019
The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has not been very fair to state Superintendent John White.
Since January 2016, the board has neglected to extend his contract, which has left White operating on a month-to-month basis for more than three years.
The root of the problem is the 11-member board can’t reach an agreement on the matter — yet continually give him positive reviews on his job performance.
White is the longest continuously serving superintendent in the country, yet he doesn’t have job stability.
“Serving Louisiana’s children has been the professional honor of a lifetime,” White told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “I will continue my service until BESE tells me otherwise.”
The state has had much to brag about under White’s supervision. This year the state’s four-year high school graduation rate surpassed 80 percent for the first time, and the graduation rate for African American students surpassed the national average for the first time.
The graduation rate increased from 78.2 percent in 2017 to 81.4 percent in 2018. Louisiana graduated 40,124 students last year, up from 39,995 in 2017. Our state’s graduation rate, once nearly 10 points off the national average, is now nearing that average.
Also, more than 78 percent of African American students graduated in 2018, up from 72.9 percent in 2017. The national average is 77.8 percent.
More than half of all students who entered ninth grade in Louisiana not only graduated four years later, but also graduated having passed a college course or an Advanced Placement course, or having earned an industry-based credential that validates them as eligible for employment in a high-wage field.
Of the students who earned credentials, 15 percent earned advanced credentials — such as passing an Advanced Placement or CLEP test or earning a credential in a craft trade. In 2013, less than 4 percent of graduates earned advanced credentials.
And that’s not all.
Louisiana students have steadily improved their performance on Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, or LEAP 2025, assessments in English language arts (ELA), math, and social studies since last year and since 2015.
The percent of grade 3-8 LEAP 2025 ELA tests scoring Mastery and above was 44 percent in 2019, up from 43 percent in 2018 and 37 percent in 2015.
The percent of LEAP 2025 math tests scoring Mastery and above in grades 3-8 was 34 percent in 2019, up from 32 percent in 2018 and 30 percent in 2015. Overall, across all tested grades, the percentage of math tests scoring Mastery and above increased to 35 percent in 2019, up from 33 percent in 2018.
The percent of LEAP 2025 social studies tests scoring Mastery and above in grades 3-8 was 28 percent in 2019, up from 27 percent in 2018 and 25 percent in 2017. Overall, across all tested grades, the percentage of social studies tests scoring Mastery and above remained steady from 2018 to 2019, at 28 percent.
White clearly is making a difference.
When the new BESE board members convene in January — elections are Oct. 12 — we hope the board resolves this matter so we will have stability in that office. A resolution is strongly needed.
In this file photo from 2018, John White leads a session at a Teacher Leader Summit.
