Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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Dec. 20
The Advocate on FEMA helping Louisiana flood victims:
South Louisiana residents responded to last August’s flood with speed and ingenuity, and they deserve the same from their federal government.
But with thousands of last summer’s flood victims still waiting for shelter as Christmas arrives - and Uncle Sam paying sky-high prices for mobile homes that have yet to reach their intended recipients - the federal role in the long-term recovery has been neither fast nor nimble. Louisiana’s people - and taxpayers across America supporting this recovery - should be incensed.
In Louisiana, of course, anger at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the government’s lead recovery agency, now spans decades. After the botched response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita made FEMA synonymous with bureaucratic blundering, national outrage created momentum for reform.
The good news is that FEMA emerged better from that bitter experience. Its quick deployment of relief supplies and recovery specialists last August was a far cry from FEMA’s head-in-the-sand reaction to the tragic storms of 2005. But the agency’s current housing program for displaced flood victims reminds us of a decade ago, when Louisiana became the FEMA poster child for public policy failures.
Gone are those tiny, toxic trailers, deemed unsafe by critics, that became icons of ineptitude when FEMA distributed them to Katrina victims. In their place are nicer, bigger mobile units that cost taxpayers an arm and a leg. These units are harder to site near the flooded homes that need repair and have been tediously slow in reaching the people who need them the most.
As of this month, some 2,250 families displaced by the floods and eligible for the housing units were still waiting for one. FEMA official Tito Hernandez said that often, by the time a unit is available for qualified applicants, the people once in need have already repaired their house to a habitable condition or found a rental property.
FEMA’s housing assistance, like a parachute, isn’t much good if it arrives long after it’s needed. And given the eye-popping costs of the new FEMA units, it’s apparent that more people could have been helped more quickly if the agency had paid more attention to its bottom line.
As U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, has noted, FEMA is now spending about $150,000 per unit for its mobile homes, when the market rate is $35,000 to $45,000 each.
That head-scratching arithmetic argues for another round of reform at FEMA as a new president takes office next year.
If Louisiana’s hardships help disaster recoveries elsewhere in America go more smoothly, then the suffering of displaced flood victims will not have been completely in vain.
But it’s a shame that once again, Louisiana is serving as a practice field for policies that, in the dry light of hindsight, seem disasters in themselves.
Online:
https://www.theadvocate.com
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Dec. 18
The Courier on Louisiana’s social services:
People of goodwill can disagree about whether Gov. Bobby Jindal was good for Louisiana.
But there can be no debate about this: The Department of Children and Family Services was cut to the bone on Jindal’s watch, and it will take state money to restore the agency’s ability to do its important work.
The horror stories coming from the agency are as many as they are appalling.
For instance, the department’s cars are in such poor shape that they are unreliable for getting children to and from doctors’ appointments or taking them from abusive situations.
And the state pays less for a foster child’s care than it costs to board a dog.
Those are just two examples mentioned in a recent Associated Press story outlining DCFS Secretary Marketa Garner Walters’ testimony in front of state lawmakers.
Walters is seeking a hike to her agency’s budget. And the reasoning is beyond reproach.
The DCFS’s budget was cut in half during Jindal’s eight-year term in office. But its important mission has gone unchanged.
“We simply do not have the capacity to serve the clients we have, and unfortunately in DCFS, the clients are people in need,” Walters said. “The agency has been grossly underfunded for eight years.”
Unfortunately, Walters’ agency is fighting the same uphill budget battle that every other state agency if fighting.
When paired with the ongoing difficulties faced by our state’s colleges and universities - not to mention the students they serve - the DCFS is a loud argument for Louisiana re-examining its budget process.
The state’s constitution protects the money that goes into many areas of the budget. Some of the exceptions, health care and higher education, frequently find themselves facing disproportionate cuts when the state sees fiscal hard times.
In recent years, those cuts have come one after another. And DCFS, our hospitals and our state’s institutions of higher learning have taken the brunt of the cuts. Further, and even more troubling, those cuts could continue.
The state’s budget should be an annual statement about our priorities. We should be protecting our most vulnerable people and those who will be tomorrow’s leaders. Instead, those are the very people who are getting the short end of the stick - repeatedly.
Our lawmakers and governor must work together to re-craft our budget process so it more adequately reflects our values and protects the interests of those who are most in need.
Families and children would be an excellent place to start.
Editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper, not of any individual.
Online:
https://www.houmatoday.com
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Dec. 14
The American Press on changes for Louisiana public schools:
Change is once again in store for Louisiana public schools.
The ever-shifting landscape of public education gained renewed direction in 2015 when the Every Student Succeeds Act - ESSA - was passed into federal law.
ESSA’s goal is improving education for historically disadvantaged students, such as students from low-income families, those whose first language isn’t English and students with disabilities.
ESSA also affords states more say-so in how they use federal dollars by allowing them to come up with their own ESSA implementation plans.
State Superintendent of Education John White has since announced a plan, opened it up for public comment, and presented it to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, who will vote on a final plan to submit to the U.S. Department of Education in spring 2017. The state will put its DOE-approved ESSA plan in place in fall 2017.
Meanwhile Gov. John Bel Edwards has decided to get in on the action by coming up with his own plan, even though he doesn’t have a definite role to play - his one real chance to influence the ESSA plan was when he appointed three members to the BESE board once elected.
Nevertheless, Edwards organized the Governor’s ESSA Advisory Council to recommend an implementation plan by Dec. 31, which he can use in the event of accompanying legislation or just to get his two cents in before the final decision is made.
In its first round of suggestions released last week, the panel suggested ESSA reduce the number of science tests in particular; require teachers be evaluated more on observation than on student test scores; and do away with the requirement that “A’’ schools have a test score of Mastery, the second highest score.
The panel put off the contested topic of school grade letters until another day.
Although the panel took a harder line than White against rigorous testing and test-driven evaluation methods, the two groups are headed in the same direction: less tests and more well-rounded evaluation methods for schools and teachers.
It looks like the education world will avoid another kicking and screaming match this round of changes, but there’s still a few months for tempers to flare. Let’s hope that the governor, White and BESE can all get on board with a plan that will benefit both teachers and students.
Online:
https://www.americanpress.com
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