When head football coach Brian Kelly pointed out a difference in priorities between Louisiana State University and Notre Dame, where he previously coached, , his comments drew immediate reaction. Now, he says academic excellence is part of what drew him to LSU.

“The whole landscape there is different than it is here. It just is,” Kelly said in the ESPN interview. “There are priorities at Notre Dame. The architectural building needed to get built first. They ain’t building the architectural building here first. We’re building the athletic training facility first, [and] we’re in the midst of a $22 million addition to our athletic training facility.”

“It’s something I said we needed, and we went and immediately raised the money,” Kelly added.

Many believed the coach’s comments implied academic facilities are not a priority for the university and responded with immediate criticism.

Some said Kelly was “saying the quiet part out loud” and pointed out that LSU has a huge deferred maintenance problem — to the tune of approximately $650 million in repairs required across campus. Its decrepit library with a famously leaky roof is slated to be destroyed and replaced if the state continues to fund the project.

For years, students and faculty working in neglected buildings have looked at the expansion and upgrades of LSU’s athletic facilities and questioned what the true priorities are at LSU.

For many, Kelly’s comments finally put those feelings into the open.

“On one hand, it’s good that Kelly understands the obvious — that Louisiana and LSU care far more about football than academics,” mass communication professor Robert Mann wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “On the other hand, he seems to think it’s marvelous.”

“Maybe a new architecture school would be good for LSU, they seem to need a new architect of the team,” X user Blaine Bonis posted, referencing LSU’s 45-24 loss Sunday to Florida State.

Given the opportunity to clarify his comments, Kelly initially maintained he did not mean to imply athletics are or should be favored over academics.

“My comments was that there was a priority placed on excellence, excellence both in academics and athletics,” Kelly said in an interview with the Illuminator. “That’s what drew me to this job.”

But when it was pointed out his comments strongly imply LSU does not prioritize academic facilities, Kelly said his words have been mischaracterized.

“If you look at many of my statements, my reason for coming was my conversation with President Tate and his commitment to academics and excellence … from day one, the allure for me was that commitment to both on and off the field.”

“It’s a balance,” Kelly said when asked whether the school should prioritize academic facilities. “I want excellence in both academics and in athletics. That balance is going to be, at certain times, you’re going to add to both of those.”

LSU President William Tate stood by the coach, saying he feels Kelly’s sentiment was misstated.

“We, along with our legislature and donors, have most certainly prioritized capital projects for LSU academics and our Scholarship First Agenda, leading to a $333 million investment for a new science building, a new library, the Agricultural Innovation Center, and renovations for the School of Veterinary Medicine,” Tate said in a statement to the Illuminator. “We remain steadfast in our dedication to supporting our academic and research endeavors.”

LSU has been criticized for not including its library in its funding requests to the legislature until last year and for looking to the state for money to build a new . While the arena was not included in the university’s official capital outlay request, lawmakers on the committee that handles the budget said LSU administrators and board members requested the funds.

Earlier this year the legislature approved $1 million in cash for the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to plan improvements and $50 million in the lowest priority category of funding, which would have to be reappropriated in a future year. Lawmakers also gave their OK for another $50 million in fees and self-generated revenue. But because the project is listed as a Tiger Athletic Foundation project, those funds will not be dispersed, as it is illegal for a private entity to receive fees and self-generated revenue.

The legislature also approved $3.2 million in state funding to replace its library, along with nearly $150 million in lowest-priority funds that would need to be reappropriated once the new building is under construction.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

Advocates for early childhood education in Louisiana are celebrating an unprecedented state budget allocation for their cause, one that Gov. John Bel Edwards prioritized in his spending proposal. But the money made available will cover only about a quarter of the roughly 16,000 spots currently funded, leaving proponents to wonder whether momentum gained in recent years will be lost.

Louisiana was provided $200 million in federal pandemic relief money so parents could receive vouchers to put their children in early learning centers while they returned to work. Education officials put the state in position to access the resources as soon as possible, which means Louisiana is likely to spend its allocation well ahead of the September 2024 federal deadline for the money to be used.

That’s why the $51.5 million in state money included in the 2023-24 state budget is considered an encouraging sign by Libbie Sonnier, executive director for the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children.

“What we’ve seen over the last four to five years is increasing state investment in early care and education,” Sonnier said. “Early care and education is a bipartisan issue. It’s a business issue. It’s a workforce-of-today issue and a workforce-of-tomorrow issue.”

A November 2022 Policy Institute and University of Louisiana found parent absences from work attributed to the lack of child care cost the Louisiana economy $1.3 billion annually. The same authors that a lack of employee access to child care cost Louisiana businesses $762 million annually. The number includes work absences and the turnover that occurs when parent-employees can’t keep their jobs.

Even with the huge purse of federal money, Louisiana struggles to meet the demand for child care within its labor force. The $200 million helped place some 16,000 children in early childhood centers, but the estimated need is 130,000 slots, said Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Legislature’s most vocal champion for early childhood education.

Gov. John Bel Edwards signed this year to create an Early Childhood Care and Education Commission. One of its main objectives is to see if policymakers can come up with a need-based method to fund early childhood education, similar to the Minimum Foundation Program used to allocate per-pupil dollars for K-12 public schools in Louisiana.

“This would require that the commission take a look at what the possibilities are for stable, consistent funding for early childhood,” Freiberg said. “If we could get something like that, then we could plan ahead and know what (state funding) we’re going to have and what we’re going to need to have locals address.”

A statistic Freiberg regularly cites when making her case to place more state resources into early childhood education is that for every dollar spent, the return on investment is $13 to $18 for Louisiana’s economy.

Although it took COVID-19 — plus two years of major hurricanes — to reveal the significant gaps, Sonnier said the valuable lessons learned bode well for the future of Louisiana’s early childhood education system

“It allowed us to hold up a mirror and say, ‘This is absolutely the economic backbone to our state and how we operate,’” she said. “People cannot go to work if they don’t have childcare for their children.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

RICHMOND, Va. — Although a new Virginia law requires schools to inform parents when sexually explicit materials are used in the classroom, some districts are using that law as the basis to go further and remove certain books from schools altogether.

Book ban requests across the state often have cited the Virginia , which was signed last year by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The law requires schools to ensure parents are notified of any instructional material that includes sexually explicit content and allows them to request alternative materials for their children.

But Virginia Republican state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, who introduced the bill last year, said the law was never intended to be a pretext for book bans in school libraries and on classroom shelves.

“This is not about books,” Dunnavant said. “This is not about censoring. This is about collaboration and what’s in the best interest of a child. And so, I was sorry to hear … that in some cases someone is using this bill in the wrong way.”

Legislatures in other states, including Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah, have likewise passed laws aimed at giving parents control over or banning explicit sexual materials from classrooms. But school districts in many of the states with new laws are still figuring out whether that includes library books, books used in the classroom or both.

Kasey Meehan, who directs PEN America’s Freedom to Read project, said vague legislation and loose guidance in some states have a chilling effect on school decision-makers, who become overly cautious.

“This is where we see legislation empowering local actors — or giving local actors — something to point to when they look to censor certain books,” Meehan said.

Virginia’s law required the state Department of Education to create model policies for ensuring local school districts notify parents via email or in-person meetings when students may be using library books with sexual content to complete an assignment or during extracurricular academic programs. Parents also have the right to review the material and make decisions on what their students can and can’t read.

But some Virginia school boards, like that of Hanover County Public Schools, are still nailing down the specifics of their own policies amid calls for bans.

At its May 9 meeting, the Hanover County School Board heard more than an hour and a half of public comments, many regarding its , with new rules determining how requests for book bans will be handled.

Within a few weeks following the meeting, one organization sent the board a list of more than 100 books it wanted removed from shelves. The list, provided to Stateline by Hanover County Public Schools, includes notes on sexual content, profanity, violence, drug use and more.

On June 13, the school board voted in favor of the new policy. Under it, material challenged for having “pervasive vulgarity” or sexually explicit content will be removed if the school librarian and principal agree. If not, the matter will be forwarded to the school board office, where a committee or designated officials will review it. The board also may at its sole discretion vote to remove “any and all materials of its choosing from the library, classroom, school building(s) and or division.”

The board voted to remove 17 titles that same night.

Less than an hour away in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, officials 14 titles from schools for sexually explicit after a parent complained, in order to comply with the parental notification law, according to a memo from Superintendent Mark B. Taylor.

Taylor, who became superintendent last year, earlier this year had suggested as a cost-reduction measure. He also ruled that the 14 books challenged by the parent as inappropriate be removed from school libraries.

The removed books will be kept in storage, according to the county. Spotsylvania County Public Schools teachers can also use these materials in the classroom with parental consent.

“Our public school libraries contain roughly 390,000 books,” Taylor wrote in a statement to Stateline. “Books have apparently been added to our libraries for years based only on short summary reviews. This practice has left us with limited awareness of the contents of our public school libraries. Our lack of awareness of the sexually explicit content present in our libraries disables us from giving parents the advance notice and the choice to avoid such content that they are entitled to under the law.”

The Spotsylvania County School Board voted 4-3 in May in favor of removing books it deemed sexually explicit. In response, the ACLU of Virginia issued a saying the county had misinterpreted Virginia law.

“Unfortunately, the way Virginia code is written is so open-ended as to allow this kind of dangerous mission creep,” Ashna Khanna, the ACLU of Virginia’s policy director, wrote. “Until this poorly written code is repealed, other overzealous school boards may try to ban books that simply make them uncomfortable.”

And last year in Virginia Beach, then-state Del. Tim Anderson, a Republican, filed suit with former GOP congressional candidate Tommy Altman to restrict two titles from being sold out of bookstores to minors on the grounds of a state law. A threw out the case after finding the law itself to be unconstitutional. (Anderson resigned his seat in April to run for the state Senate.)

While book bans have increased nationwide in the past few years, they have been a controversial issue for centuries, said Trisha Tucker, an associate professor of writing at the University of Southern California’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

“Knowing more about and sharing more about the actual changing narratives about children — about how they read, about what’s dangerous for them — can help us realize that none of this is natural or universal,” she said.

Last year, the American Library Association documented 1,269 to censor over 2,500 unique library books and resources. Of these, 90% were part of requests to censor multiple titles at once.

Officials banned books last year in 138 school districts across 32 states, PEN America.

In the latest ban attempt that drew nationwide attention, a Miami-Dade County, Florida, school responding to one parent’s complaint restricted the poem “The Hill We Climb,” by Amanda Gorman, a Black poet who had read it at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The Republican-controlled Florida legislature passed a number of laws regarding books in schools, including one defining “” in K-12 schools.

The Florida laws have created confusion around book bans, causing some districts to keep books from shelves and critics to complain about decisions being made behind the scenes, the .

Addressing book bans in a news conference this June, Biden the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will appoint a new coordinator to “address the growing threat that book bans pose for the civil rights of students.” Efforts to ban books disproportionally titles about LGBTQ+ communities and communities of color.

In Connecticut, two Republican members of the Newtown Board of Education in May after the board deadlocked in a 3-3 vote over whether to ban two books. Democratic lawmakers in the state recently proposed a bill that would allow municipalities to designate “” for banned or censored books.

Illinois this week became the first state to pass legislation effectively ending book bans in the state. The signed into law by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker will block state funding for public schools and libraries that ban books. It takes effect in January 2024.

In Virginia, Eden Heilman, the legal director of the state chapter of the ACLU, said the legislation there remains “problematic.”

“I think what’s happening is — for example, in Spotsylvania — they’re misinterpreting Virginia code to empower themselves to take these bold, broad measures that aren’t authorized in the law,” Heilman said.

Books taken off school shelves

Spotsylvania County, Virginia, officials removed 14 titles from schools for sexually explicit content after a parent complained, in order to comply with a recently passed law.

“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson

“Like a Love Story” by Abdi Nazemian“Dime” by E.R. Frank

“America” by E.R. Frank

“Sold” by Patricia McCormick

“Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Perez

“Beloved” by Toni Morrison

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

“Looking for Alaska” by John Green

“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky

“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

“Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe” by Preston Norton

“More Happy Than Not” by Adam Silvera

“Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult

This article was first published by , part of States Newsroom network of news bureaus that includes the Louisiana Illuminator. It’s supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on and .

The Louisiana Senate approved a proposal Monday that would limit children’s access to library material. The vote took place without any lawmakers voicing opposition to what up until now has been a controversial proposal.

, by Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, would require libraries to create a card system so parents could prevent their children from checking out books deemed inappropriate. Libraries would also have to adopt policy language to limit minors’ access to material that describes “sexual conduct,” which the bill defines in five ensuing paragraphs.

Attorney General Jeff Landry, the Louisiana Republican Party-endorsed candidate for governor, supports Cloud’s bill. It’s a response to ongoing fights in parish library systems where conservative activists have sought to restrict children’s access to certain materials — and in some cases remove them from shelves altogether. Most of the titles targeted .

The bill advanced on a party-line 27-11 vote, but none of the 11 Democrats against the bill raised concerns with the bill when given the opportunity.

While limited debate in the Senate is not unusual — the House is considered the more contentious chamber — critics are concerned that no senators spoke out against it.

“That’s kind of shocking,” Peyton Rose Michelle, executive director of Louisiana Trans Advocates, said in an interview. Michelle has been at the forefront of the library issue, raising concerns about the unintended consequences for young LGBTQ+ readers.

“For them to not object is really disappointing,” Michelle said. “I was expecting literally any dissent.”

The bill will next be heard in a House Committee.

A similar bill, , sponsored by Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carenco, also supported by Landry, has not yet been heard in committee. It’s pending approval by the House Municipal Parochial and Cultural Affairs Committee, which last week killed that would’ve allowed members of parish library boards to be fired without cause.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

A state Senate committee agreed Monday to support a nearly $9 million plan to help Louisiana public schools better prepare for mass shootings.

The idea for the legislation came from a panel of students who told lawmakers current emergency drills don’t account for incidents that happen when they’re not inside a classroom.

Sen. Barry Milligan, R-Shreveport, said he crafted with input from the , a panel of 31 Louisiana high school students who share policy suggestions with legislators. The council requested improvements to school mass shooting response, including a request for “stop the bleed” kits with tourniquets for every campus.

Three members of the student panel testified before the Senate Finance Committee, which must review all spending requests, to share how they feel current emergency plans are inadequate.

“This country has truly become numb to school shootings, and sadly there are not many options to create long-term solutions to this crisis,” said Clayton Baden, a senior at Buckeye High School in Pineville, adding that Millgan’s bill offered a short-term answer.

Holly Phan, a junior at Baton Rouge Magnet High School, stressed better communication was needed between school administrators and teachers for mass shooting drills. She recounted an incident in which her sister was outside of the classroom and wasn’t aware a drill was being conducted. Her fears worsened when a nearby electrical transformer exploded during the drill.

“All she could do was sit and hide in the dark, exposed gym with her scared classmates, hoping for signs of safety,” Phan said.

Daniel Price, a senior at McKinley High in Baton Rouge, said he now fears the time between classes because mass shooter drills don’t cover what students should do in that situation. He stayed home the day after a gun was rumored to have been brought to campus, he said.

The current version of the state budget for fiscal year 2023, which starts July 1, includes $8.9 million for enhanced school safety measures related to school shootings. The largest portion, $5 million, would pay for security equipment, such as surveillance cameras, safety training and expanded drills. A $1.6 million portion is set aside to provide teachers with “panic buttons” to signal an emergency.

The plan also calls for $1 million to help expand a CrimeStoppers-manned smartphone application that’s already in place for some 500 schools in 40 parishes around the state. Students can use the app anonymously to report safety concerns. Darlene Cusanza, CrimeStoppers president and CEO, said her group has worked with the state since 2020 and has received some 1,200 tips through the Safe Schools Louisiana app.

A third of the tips have been about bullying, 13% involved mental health matters and 5% were regarding planned school shootings, Cusanza said.

“It’s important because students are talking about their friends who are suffering, and that information isn’t being compiled anywhere,” she told the committee.

Tips from students have led to arrests and information regarding crimes off campus, according to Cusanza.

Milligan has also proposed $1.1 million for 11 employees who will comprise the Louisiana Center for Safe Schools, an offshoot of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP). Another $256,000 will fund the salaries of two new State Police employees who will be part of coordinating school mass shooting response with law enforcement.

CrimeStoppers launched its Safe Schools app three years ago under a contract with the State Police, and the Milligan proposal would move the arrangement over to GOHSEP.  Cusanza said another 123 schools will be added to the app over the summer, bringing it to roughly half of Louisiana’s junior and high school campuses.

Senate committee hearings on next year’s state budget are taking place this week. The House version of the spending plan removed $2,000 annual teacher raises Gov. John Bel Edwards had inserted and that Senate leaders have said they will restore.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee gave the impression the money Milligan wants for his bill wouldn’t be at risk to fund the teacher raises.

There have been no mass shootings at Louisiana schools, but the state regularly ranks high in both total mass shootings and mass shootings per capita.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

TikTok could soon be expelled from Louisiana’s colleges and universities under a bill advancing through the legislature.

, sponsored by Rep. Daryl Deshotel, R-Marksville, would ban the app on all state-owned devices and state administered networks, meaning the popular video sharing app could soon be inaccessible on university WiFi.

Deshotel has pitched the bill as a security measure, pointing to FBI Director Christopher Wray’s that China could use the app to control data from U.S. consumers, control software and drive political narratives.

“This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government, and… it screams out with national security concerns,” Wray told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in March.

“The risk of exposure to our constituents’ private data is too much and too high of a price to pay for the sake of a funny video,” Deshotel said Tuesday when he pitched the bill to the House Appropriations Committee.

The bill was advanced without objection from the Appropriations Committee and had previously been unanimously advanced from the House and Governmental Affairs Committee last month. It will next go before the House of Representatives for a floor vote, where it is likely to be approved.

If the bill passes through the legislature, it would take effect when it’s signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who previously ordered TikTok banned on all state-owned devices and networks under his control, meaning Louisiana’s 275,000 college students will likely be returning to a TikTok-free school in the Fall.

The bill has so far received no testimony in support or opposition. The public will next have the opportunity to comment on the proposal when it is heard in a Senate committee.

The proposal would also ban any other app or service developed by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance Ltd, or entities the company owns.

Deshotel’s proposal carves out exceptions to the ban for academic uses of the app. The bill includes language that provides exceptions for “legitimate scientific, educational or law enforcement purposes” to be determined on a school-by-school basis.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

Billions of federal dollars are available to help Louisiana students make up ground lost in the classroom to the COVID-19 pandemic, but some educators say they don’t have the staff to put the plans in place and are concerned about what happens once the money runs out.

Louisiana schools have roughly $2.3 billion left to spend out of back-to-back allocations of federal pandemic stimulus dollars that totaled $4 billion. That teachers are already stretched thin — and new ones so increasingly hard to find — is at the heart of why so much of the remedial COVID money has not been spent.

The state Senate could consider a proposal this week that would allow schools to devote more time to what’s being called accelerated instruction. , from Sen. Patrick McMath, R-Covington, updates that targeted fourth- through eighth-graders who failed to achieve mastery level in math and reading on state assessment tests. Mastery signifies that the student met expectations for their grade level.

This year’s version adds third-graders and eliminates an accelerated learning committee for each student that includes their parent or guardian and their teacher. Instead, parents will be provided a plan that details their child’s accelerated instruction.

McMath also wants to change the instruction time specified in last year’s legislation. Instead of meeting once-weekly for a total of 30 hours over the ensuing summer and school year, the tutoring sessions would have to last at least 30 minutes and be held no fewer than three times a week. Sessions could take place during or after school and over the summer.

Tutoring groups are allowed but no larger than five students, down from a dozen in existing law, unless parents are OK with more participants.

Shenoa Warren, East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools chief of literacy, called McMath’s bill “an unfunded mandate” when it was advanced Thursday by the Senate Education Committee.

“We would hope the state could help us build capacity to have staff provide the extra support,” Warren said.

A staff supplement option for schools is included in this year’s bill. It requires the Louisiana Department of Education to publish a list of “approved high-quality tutoring providers” by no later than October that schools can hire to bolster in-house faculty efforts. The providers’ tutors have to pass the same background checks as school employees, and they must provide live instruction that can be offered in person, online or both.

Michael Lombardo with BookNook, a company that provides what he referred to as “high-dosage tutoring,” appeared before the Senate committee and shared facts on where lawmakers approved policy similar to McMath’s. BookNook has worked with approximately 300,000 students and 2,500 tutors in Texas, according to Lombardo.

Opponents of McMath’s bills include the state organizations representing school boards and system superintendents as well as the Louisiana Federation of Teachers.

Janet Pope, executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association, questioned why the proposal calls for the state to provide a list of approved vendors when school districts can already hire them on their own. Senate Bill 177 preserves that option, but schools must apply for a waiver from the state education department if they want to hire a vendor that’s not on the list, which Pope said removes autonomy from local school boards.

Michael Faulk, executive director for the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, said McMath’s bill would force schools to scrap plans already submitted to address COVID-related student deficiencies — a scenario that risks running past state planning deadlines.

Ethan Melancon with the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education said there are members who support McMath’s proposal, but they also have concerns about additional bureaucracy, redundancy with existing remediation efforts and what happens when the COVID money runs out.

Brigette Neiland with Stand for Children shared her support for the bill with the Senate committee. She rejected arguments that schools should not embrace accelerated learning just because the COVID stimulus will eventually run out.

“It’s not as if helping students for years before then is a waste of time or money,” Neiland said.

McMath said this year’s bill “adds teeth” to his measure approved last year, although it so far doesn’t contain any punishment for schools that don’t spend the federal money. It requires  every local school board to file reports annually with the state by June 1 that spells out what high-quality tutoring providers it hired, how many students needed the extra support, how much it spent on academic remediation and the source of the money, and how it adjusted the school-day schedule to accommodate the additional instruction.

The state education department, in turn, will summarize the information from each school board and post it on its website by July 1.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

Teachers at Louisiana schools would be immune from criminal charges if a student gets hurt when they break up a fight, according to a proposal that advanced Monday from a state House committee.

Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, sponsored , which she calls the Protect Teachers Act. Current law already shields teachers, principals and school administrators from civil lawsuits if they act to end a student skirmish. Hodges’ bill would prevent the same employees from facing battery or aggravated battery charges unless the adult’s actions are “malicious and willfully and deliberately intended to cause bodily harm,” according to the legislation.

“The teachers are very reluctant to get involved because they don’t want to get hurt, they don’t want to hurt the students,” Hodges said. “If they do intervene and someone gets hurt, they can be prosecuted criminally.”

Teachers are in a “no-win situation” when it comes to fights, she added, attributing difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers to the violence on campus.

Asked whether there was any opposition to her proposal, Hodges said she had not received any. Mike Faulk, executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, conveyed the group’s support for the bill, she said.

Committee member Rep. Larry Frieman, R-Abita Springs, said it was “appalling” that no one “supposedly representing” the state’s teacher unions was present to support Hodges’ proposal. According to committee Chairman Rep. Greg Miller, R-Norco, no one had filled out cards in opposition to House Bill 86.

Reached by the Illuminator after the meeting, representatives with Louisiana’s two main teachers’ unions expressed support for the bill in concept but shared concerns with its current language.

Cynthia Posey, legislative and political director for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, said she had talked to Hodges before the weekend about concerns her organization had about “unintended consequences” of the bill. Namely, the LFT feared the proposal could be construed to compel school employees to intervene in a student fight, putting them at risk.

“You have to think, ‘Do I want to step in and try to break this up?’ and possibly cause them to get hurt very, very badly,” Posey said. “We have teachers that actually have become disabled from breaking up fights.”

Posey said she connected with Hodges on the House floor Monday and received the representative’s reassurances that she would amend the bill when it came up for a vote.

Tia Mills, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, said she wasn’t successful reaching Hodges last week about changes her group wants to the bill. Her union wants all school employees added to ensure they are protected from criminal and civil liability if they intervene in a fight.

“We want to ensure that all employees are covered under this deal because there are instances where there may be an employee who is not a classroom teacher, who is not an administrator who’d have to intervene in an altercation,” Mills said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has called for legislation to restrict what children and teens can check out from public libraries. He released a report Tuesday on what he considers sexually explicit materials available to minors at libraries.

Landry is also a candidate for governor who has been endorsed by the Republican Party of Louisiana.

His “” report includes excerpts from several books Landry singled out after a months-long investigation into public libraries. Several of the books include LGBTQ themes and are among the most challenged books in the and by groups that are seeking restrictions similar to Landry’s.

Among the books are “Gender Queer,” an autobiographical graphic novel by Maia Kobabe about the author’s journey with gender and sexual orientation for young adults. Also on Landry’s list is “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson, a series of essays about the author’s experience growing up gay and Black.

Landry denied he is specifically targeting books with LGBTQ themes.

“This is not about banning lifestyles or any other topic,” Landry said. “This is again, about protecting the innocence of children in this state. Any member of the press or public who says otherwise is purposely being dishonest about making this more about just protecting children.”

Age-appropriate books with LGBTQ themes often end up in the crosshairs of conservative officials and proponents for restrictions despite claims they are only seeking to protect children from sexually explicit material.

Landry recently seeking complaints about libraries to protect children from “early sexualization, as well as grooming, sex trafficking, and abuse.”

Critics have called out conservatives for which typically refers to the behaviors sexual predators use to coerce potential victims, to characterize benign actions by LGBTQ people as harmful to children.

Ed Abraham, an organizer with Real Name Campaign, argued that Landry is trying to deny LGBTQ youth access to stories that represent their experiences.

“The bill announced today by Attorney General Jeff Landry was not written to protect children,” Abraham said in a press release. “It was written as part of a nationally coordinated effort by conservative politicians to rally the far-right, disappear LGBTQ+ people, and erase the gains of the LGBTQ+ movement.”

Landry said he was unsure whether comments sent to the tip line were used to formulate the report, but he noted the Louisiana Department of Justice’s investigation into libraries began before the online form was set up.

Landry was accompanied at the press conference by several local officials and state lawmakers, including Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, who prefiled  a bill Tuesday morning that would to limit children’s and teen’s access to “sexually explicit” materials.

Senate Bill 7 would require libraries to set up a card system. It would allow parents or guardians to choose a card that indicates whether minors are allowed to check out certain materials. The bill also sets new standards for material reviews that would give local library boards the final say on what is sexually explicit. In most parish libraries, a committee of librarians and library employees determine which books are removed from their collections.

Cloud’s bill also sets out financial penalties for libraries that do not comply. It forbids the State Bond Commission from approving the financial packages  for any construction projects that would benefit a noncompliant library. The proposal would also allow, but not require, local governments to withhold funding from libraries.

Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carenco, said she plans to introduce similar legislation in the House of Representatives.

Landry was also joined by Livingston Parish Councilmember Erin Sandefur, who formerly served on the parish’s Library Board of Control. As a library board member, Sandefur called on the board to with no sexually explicit content.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education unveiled a proposal Tuesday that would overhaul a federal student loan income-driven repayment plan, and, if implemented, could help millions of low-income borrowers.

However, it’s unclear how the agency would be able to finance the program. Many student debt relief advocates also criticized the proposal for leaving out graduate students and parental loans.

The federal agency that would implement the plan, the Office of Federal Student Aid, handles the loans of 44 million borrowers. But it was not given an increase in its $2 billion funding in the recent $1.7 trillion government spending bill that covers the current fiscal year.

---

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for ����Ӱ�� Newsletter

---

In a call with reporters late Monday, senior administration officials said funding their new plan would be difficult.

“It’s true that we were very disappointed with the level of funding we received from Congress for Federal Student Aid,” a senior administration official said. “And that’s going to make it a challenge for us to carry out a number of our policy initiatives.”

Changes in plan

Under the proposed rule, undergraduate borrowers would only be required to pay 5% of their income toward their loans, which would be down from the 10% required under the current income-driven repayment plan.

The proposed rule would also amend the “Revised Pay As You Earn” federal plan to offer zero monthly payment plans to any borrowers who make less than $30,600 a year and any borrower in a family of four who makes less than $62,400.

“The proposed regulations would also ensure that borrowers stop seeing their balances grow due to the accumulation of unpaid interest after making their monthly payments,” according to the Department of Education’s .

The department’s goal is to implement the program this year, officials said. However, rule can be a lengthy process, which can even take longer . Public comment will be open on Wednesday for the .

Pathway to forgiveness

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement that the proposed regulation will help create a faster pathway to federal loan forgiveness and help those borrowers avoid defaulting on their loans.

“We cannot return to the same broken system we had before the pandemic, when a million borrowers defaulted on their loans a year and snowballing interest left millions owing more than they initially borrowed,” he said.

Americans have student loan debt, and the Federal Reserve that the total U.S. student loan debt is more than $1.76 trillion.

If implemented, the department estimates that federal loan borrowers who are low income would see payments that are 83% less, while federal loan borrowers who make higher incomes would see a 5% reduction.

Federal student loan borrowers who went to community college would be debt free within 10 years if the program is implemented, the department said.

The move comes as the Biden administration’s larger plan for student loan relief is tied up in the courts and under a nationwide injunction awaiting a U.S. Supreme Court hearing and ruling.

The court action has prevented the administration from implementing its plan for one-time student loan debt cancellation of up to $20,000 for millions of borrowers.

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case Feb. 28.

Criticism of proposal

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan think tank focusing on government spending, criticized the plan announced Tuesday and argued that if implemented it would lead to more student loan borrowing and drive up tuition costs.

Maya MacGuineas, the president of the group, said in a statement that “it now looks like the Biden Administration’s student debt proposals could cost $600 billion, or perhaps even more.”

“The Administration should abandon their unilateral effort to remake higher education financing, and instead work with Congress on a thoughtful package of reforms that truly address college costs and value,” she said.

The deputy executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, Persis Yu, said in a statement that while the proposals are significant, the Department of Education should go further by including Parent PLUS loans and graduate student loan borrowers in the program.

allow parents to borrow money for a dependent’s higher education, and those loans are on an income-driven repayment plan. The loan cannot be transferred to the child and is the sole responsibility of the parent.

There are about 4 million Parent PLUS loans, according to .

Yu argued that many low-income families of color are more likely to rely on Parent PLUS loans and students of color are more likely to “need to get a graduate degree to earn the same salary as their wealthier white peers.”

“Equity demands that these borrowers have equal access to an affordable payment plan and the necessary supports to free themselves from the crushing weight of student debt,” Yu said.

The president of the Student Debt Crisis Center, which advocates for student loan debt relief, Natalia Abrams, made similar criticisms in a statement.

“Unfortunately, the plan repeats past mistakes that leave too many holes in the student loan safety net,” she said.

“Parents are excluded from the new benefits even though many are shouldering their children’s debt on top of their own debt. And, graduate students are blocked from the full benefits of the plan despite them carrying higher, more unaffordable monthly payments.”

Abrams called for a broad-based debt cancellation plan and reforms that would benefit all borrowers.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

Critics say a tip line launched by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry for “taxpayer-subsidized sexualization of children” at libraries is a symptom of an anti-LGBTQ moral panic.

The will field complaints about librarians, teachers and other school and library personnel. Landry made the announcement at Monday’s meeting of the St. Tammany Parish Republican Executive Committee.

“We believe libraries should be safe places for kids to develop a lifelong love of reading, discover intellectual passions, and pursue dreams for a fulfilling career – not where they are exposed (or worse) to books that contain extremely graphic sexual content that is far from age appropriate for young audiences,” Landry wrote in a Facebook post. “Rest assured that we are committed to working with our communities to protect minors from early sexualization, as well as grooming, sex trafficking, and abuse.”

Landry declined to answer questions as to whether he has investigated sex crimes against children originating in libraries.

Amanda Jones, president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, expressed disappointment that Landry is choosing to focus on what she described as a nonexistent issue.

Jones said she was worried the fear of being reported to the attorney general would have a chilling effect on legal speech for librarians.

“Not only is he going to be flooded with extremist groups, you’re just filling out these reports on teachers and librarians. It is going to become like this weird witch hunt that’s very reminiscent of the Salem witch trials or the McCarthy era,” Jones said. “You have the attorney general, stating these things, he’s running for governor. Well, nobody wants to speak out against that power.”

Jones said that in her more than 20 years as an educator and librarian, she has never seen an example of librarians providing sexually explicit material to minors.

“What these people are saying is pornography is books by the LGBTQ community,” Jones said.

St. Tammany Parish, one of the state’s most consistent Republican strongholds, has been the venue for high-profile fights over library content. Several complaints about a Pride Month display this summer triggered an internal review. of people came to a subsequent Library Board of Control meeting to support the display.

Similar confrontations have occurred in Livingston and Lafayette parish libraries, prompting concerns about censorship and LGBTQ prosecution.

Critics have called out conservatives for which typically refers to the behaviors sexual predators use to coerce potential victims, to characterize benign actions by LGBTQ people as harmful to children.

Peyton Rose Michelle, executive director of Louisiana Trans Advocates, called out Landry’s rhetoric.

“Like AG Landry, I am committed to protecting minors, so I can support his call for feedback from the people of Louisiana,” Michelle said. “However, the incredibly inflammatory rhetoric that has fueled these conversations leading up to this action from the AG has not been based on evidence-supported claims.”

In 2018, Landry was criticized for his for clergy sexual abuse. Landry said at the time that he did not have jurisdiction to investigate these crimes and referred complaints to local police entities.

Cory Dennis, a spokesperson for Landry, said that the library tip line is related to Landry’s Cyber Crime Unit but declined to comment further on Landry’s jurisdiction.

Citizens for a New Louisiana, a conservative advocacy group based in Lafayette, has been connected to library battles in Lafayette and Livingston parishes.

The group has highlighted material in those libraries it has deemed .

Michael Lunsford, the group’s executive director, applauded Landry’s actions. Unelected boards and commissions, such as local library boards of control, could benefit from Landry’s oversight, he said

“There are laws in the state of Louisiana about material harmful to juveniles,” Lunsford said. “So the attorney general in his capacity as the chief law enforcement officer in the state, it only makes natural sense that he would be curious and want to look into these things.”

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

The Louisiana Department of Education will receive some 36,000 applications for teacher certifications this year, ranging from first-time educators to those who want to become principals or specialize in certain fields. But with only a few full-time employees handling those requests, the state’s top public education official said reducing a backlog will remain a challenge.

Superintendent Cade Brumley appeared Monday before the state to share details on why certifications take up to two months to approve. He told lawmakers the department’s certification staff has been reduced from 16 employees in 2011 to just eight currently.

“We’re moving pieces on the chess board all the time to accommodate, but there are only so many people to do the work,” Brumley said. 

The limited manpower means each certification specialist has to review an average of 300 applications a week to keep pace with the number coming in, Deputy Superintendent Jenna Chaisson said.   

Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, who chairs the committee, asked Brumley why the education department didn’t budget for additional personnel in the certification program. The superintendent said cuts to administration didn’t allow for new hires, although he added the department is in the process of onboarding four part-time workers for certification.

Chaisson attributed the glut of applications to a combination of factors. They include the lapse of certification renewal extensions given because of COVID-19 and new certifications in areas such as algebra, geometry, dyslexia and sign language. 

The backlog has stretched the certification approval process to about 65 days for some applications, according to Chaisson. Before the pandemic, they could be processed within 10 to 15 days.

Brumley said there are more than 7,000 certifications awaiting approval, but Chaisson said school systems are able to request priority status if they have a teacher candidate they are ready to hire.

Another delaying factor lawmakers explored was the need for two criminal background checks for prospective teachers and certificate applicants. Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, said the legislature might want to consider changing state law to require just one.

Despite the difficulties, Brumley reported to the committee that the number of at Louisiana public schools has been cut in half over the past year – from 2,520 in 2021 to 1,203 this year. He credited the reduction to local school systems tapping into federal incentives for new hires, a pay raise the governor and legislature supported, and teachers who left classrooms during the pandemic returning to work.

The superintendent said his department intends to hire a consultant to look at how its certification program could be run more efficiently. He expects technology upgrades to be among the recommendations along with adding more personnel – the same suggestion made when a consultant conducted a similar review in 2020

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .