Kevin M. Berken was elected to be the District 7 representative on the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) in November of 2023. Now, he is ready to move Louisiana’s education system “up the ladder” nationally.

BESE is the policy arm of the State’s education system, working closely with the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) to create and enact educational standards for the State’s school systems, including budget, curriculum and policy. Berken represents a seven-parish area that includes Acadia, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette and Vermilion parishes.

He has embraced his role on the board and the responsibility that comes along with it.

“I take this very seriously, I take my oath of office very seriously and I take this opportunity as one that was granted by God to allow me to be able to do something that I never thought I would be able to do.”

Berken is approaching his role on Bese with a “Catholic/Christian, conservative, common sense, businessman’s approach,” and understands that some individuals who work directly in the education field consider him an outsider. However, he thinks his “fresh perspective” will bring much to the table.

Until Louisiana’s education rating leaves the forties, Berken will not be satisfied.

“I want to see substantial and significant improvement over my four-year term.”

He thinks with the new political synergy between BESE and the State executive and legislative branches – all supermajority Republicans – this growth is possible.

“I think we have an opportunity, and a duty, to get this right and to do great things. I feel like at this point we are all pulling this wagon in the same direction. There’s a lot of optimism as we go forward that we can and will do great things.”

Background

Berken attended all 12 years of grade school at St. Maria Goretti in Lake Arthur and attended McNeese State University to earn a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Business.

Community service and giving back have always been an integral part of his life, a part that was modeled after his parents.

“I grew up in a household where my mother and father gave back to the community for education.”

He explained that his Dad was instrumental in building St. Maria Goretti, and that his dad was the Chairman of the school’s board during all 12 years that Berken attended the school.

“I grew up with that mindset. I’ve never been one to sit at home, I’ve always been one to get involved and try to make a difference in all facets of my life – religious, community, career. So, just getting involved in those things is natural to me.

He spent a couple of years after college farming with his dad before moving to San Diego to work as a real estate agent and associate broker. He spent time as a sales manager for a Century 21 office of over 100 agents that was ranked Top 20 in the nation. After his dad was diagnosed with lung cancer, he moved back to Louisiana and began farming again up until 2018.

Currently, when not at BESE, Berken occupies his time with commercial and residential real estate.

Berken’s goal has always been to give back. In 2019, Berken ran for the Louisiana State Senate District 25 seat, but lost against Mark Abraham.

“I felt like I wanted to give back. I’ve been very involved all of my life with different aspects from local, state and national levels.”

He has served on a variety of committees and boards throughout his life to achieve this goal, such as the Jeff Davis Parish Rice Growers. He is a co-founder of the Louisiana Rice Political Action Committee, where he served 15 years as president. He was also appointed by three different governors to serve on the Louisiana Rice Promotion Board and served as chairman for 10 of the 15 years that he served on that board.

In the education sector, Berken served on the Our Lady Immaculate School in Jennings school board. He was chairman of that board for all six years that he served. He also served on the school board for Notre Dame High School in Crowley for four years while his son attended the school. He was chairman of this board for three years.

When he ran for senate, his focus was “to be able to help and hopefully improve Louisiana.” After some encouragement from peers, neighbors and community members, he decided to run for the District 7 seat on BESE.

“Because of my conservative and hardworking nature, four years ago after I ran for State Senate, some people approached me about running for this BESE board. After giving it some thought and prayer, I agreed because everything in Louisiana, in my opinion, begins with education. We can fix a lot of ills through the workforce, through our education system, all the way through the business climate.

“I was looking to make Louisiana better, and whatever paths that takes or took, that’s what I wanted to do.”

Priorities

Berken’s goal during his BESE term is to “first and foremost make education in Louisiana better.”

He believes that Louisiana’s education system is on the right path, and gave credit to Louisiana State Superintendent Cade Brumley, who was recently reappointed by BESE on January 17. Berken wants to, alongside his peers on BESE, help Brumley get more accomplished.

“I think he’s on the right path. Between him and the BESE board members, I think we can do good and great things.”

A large amount of Berken’s BESE priorities lie with foundational academic skills. He plans to take a “back to the basics” approach with a focus on the English language arts and math.

“It’s doing all of those things that we used to do and for one reason or another, got away from. … If you can’t read, you can’t succeed, and math is right there behind it.”

It is the responsibility of BESE and LDOE to ensure that Louisiana students are ready to earn their diploma at the end of their grade-school education, he believes. He referenced the controversial graduation appeal process – a process for students who are unable to meet the standardized test requirements for a high school diploma – that was vetoed by Governor Jeff Landry earlier this month.

Berken is in favor of considering an appeals process for special exceptions in the future, but believes the bar for the LEAP should be raised first.

“Diplomas need to mean something, it’s my opinion that we need to start much earlier on getting them prepared by ensuring every child can read proficiently at their grade level.”

One step that he believes BESE and LDOE should take is to implement  “high-dosage tutoring,” which would provide students struggling in reading and math with increased tutoring to catch them up to their peers and ensure they are ready to move on to the next grade.

Another practice that he is going to push for is the double-blocking of ELA and math for Kindergarten, first, second and third grade in every school district in the state. Double-blocking – which is already instituted in some Louisiana school districts – gives students twice as much ELA and math instruction. Berken said that in those early elementary grades, those are the two most important subjects.

“Up to third grade, you learn to read, and fourth grade and beyond you read to learn. That’s what we need to focus on in those younger grades.”

He plans to sponsor a resolution that will be sent to every school district superintendent in Louisiana that encourages the institution of kindergarten through third grade double-blocking in all districts if approved by the rest of the board.

“I think we’re going to see good results, better results, for all our kids and get them ready to go for fourth grade and beyond.”

Berken is also focused on creating a program like dual enrollment – a program for college-bound kids that allows them to accumulate college credits during high school, giving them a jumpstart for their collegiate education – for students that are either pursuing a vocational-technical (vo-tech) education path or are career-bound.

His hope is that vo-tech students could earn college credits through partnerships between local schools like SOWELA to allow them to earn college credits and prepare for higher vo-tech education courses.

For career-bound students, he would like to see industry or technology professionals come into the schools and give them firsthand experience. He said that approximately 50 percent of high school graduates are career-bound, so the need for pre-apprenticeship-type programs is high in Louisiana.

The biggest hurdle to instituting these practices is the criteria for LDOE high school performance scores; Schools do not get points towards these scores if the students are not participating in college-bound programs or are taking standardized tests as if they were going to a four-year college.

“We need to look at the accountability structure, with regards to the point structure for kids that are not going to college, who are going to go career or vo-tech, so that high schools are not penalized for that. I think that would make a huge impact as well on our education system here in Louisiana. I think we can move up the ladder doing something along these lines and really showcase what we’re doing.”

He also said that he would prioritize and support school choice for parents and pay raises for faculty and staff.

Berken intends to stay engaged with each school district under his jurisdiction and will be working closely with each superintendent. Per quarter, he will attend a school board meeting in each parish to stay informed on local happenings.

He has an open-door policy for constituents. He can be reached by email at kevin.berken@la.gov, fax at 225.342.5843 or by mail at P.O. Box 94064, Capitol Station Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9064.