[StBernard] Governor Blanco invests in education for Louisiana's future

[Westley Annis]

Governor Blanco invests in education for Louisiana's future


Governor Blanco's speech for the Budget Press Conference Friday, March 3,
2006:

I am here this morning to talk about one priority in my 2006 budget:
education. 

Back in January, I visited evacuees in Atlanta. I clearly recall a
conversation with one young mother, Shajuan Harris, who tightly held her
child and tearfully explained to me her priority: that good schools were
more important than housing, that she would live in a shack if she could
return to a better school system in New Orleans. 

Ms. Harris was more motivated to move back because of our take over of the
New Orleans school system. She was even considering a run for the school
board to keep our reforms going.

Like many parents, being away from home increased Ms. Harris' appreciation
for education. I believe a better school system would bring this mother and
thousands of others back home. They all recognize that good education is
vital to our recovery. I do too. 

I also know that good education is the solution to poverty.

Education is poverty's mortal enemy. 

Hurricane Katrina exposed the severity of Louisiana's poverty to the nation
and the world. Our legacy of poverty is directly linked to our history of
poor education. 

We cannot fully recover from this disaster by letting our education system
fall apart. 
If Louisiana is truly going rescue our children from the grips of poverty,
then a strong education is their lifeboat. 

Retaining quality teachers by offering competitive salaries will fortify
Louisiana's recovery after generations of educational neglect.

We must retain our good teachers. Student performance is directly linked to
quality teachers. 
If we value our children's education, then we must value the strength of our
teachers. We should pay them a decent salary. 

We must also bring back our good teachers. Many evacuated and are teaching
in other states for higher pay. We find ourselves in the bizarre and
difficult situation of recruiting our own teachers to come back home.

I'm taking the bold and important step of proposing that our public school
teachers get a necessary and well-deserved raise of $1,500 dollars a year. 

Investing $105 million in our teachers is an investment in our future, in
our recovery, and in our children. 
In the business world, success is rewarded with bonuses and raises.
Educators deserve no less.

Our public school teachers deserved this raise before Katrina and Rita and
they deserve it even more today. 

By any measurement, Louisiana has seen great gains in education: our pre-K
program gets national attention, our accountability program is paying
dividends; our teacher-training efforts earn national praise.

Strong schools full of students prepared to learn and staffed with talented,
empowered educators create class after class of educated young men and women
ready for success in the modern economy. A strong public school system is
the foundation of a strong, diversified economy. 

This is a signal to the rest of the nation that Louisiana is serious about
its future. It's not about growing government. It's about growing a learning
environment for children and our future workers who are going to rebuild
this state.

We all know that quality teaching increases student achievement. 

The results show our teachers are doing a great job with our children. We
must acknowledge that success.

Let me be clear, we cannot rebuild our state without our educators. We are
able to make this investment because we tightened our belts and our budgets
this year. And Louisiana's economy is doing better than expected.

My budget also includes $30 million for higher education faculty pay raises
of about five percent. 

The storms hit our higher education and research community hard. We know
these educators and researchers are vital to our efforts to create a
thriving economy. There has not been a general faculty pay raise since 2001.
Our talented educators are being recruited by other states. 

With that in mind, this budget also includes $15 million to expand and
retrain our workforce to help get more Louisianians working in this
recovery. 

Rebuilding this state requires skilled construction workers on an
unprecedented scale. We can train displaced workers from the storm zone to
rebuild their neighborhoods, their communities and their state.

To build a knowledge-based and skilled pool of workers, I am committing $2
million to a pilot program to keep our high school seniors in school while
preparing them for the workforce or continuing their education.

This dual enrollment program will allow about 6,700 high school seniors to
enroll in college courses to earn college credit while finishing their
senior year.

I want to give students a chance to drop into a job rather than drop out of
school.

I am committed to education, this recovery and our future. I will do
everything in power to pass this package. But, this is not a sure thing. I
am asking the education community to help me make these raises and these
programs a reality. 

Teachers and professors, principals and administrators from across the state
need to call their legislators and ask them to support these investments in
our children and our future. Let me assure our citizens that we are
proposing raises only after we have met our obligations and funded state
priorities. 

I take that responsibility very seriously and I believe my past budgets
reflect that commitment. 

This budget reserves $156 million to pay the first invoice from FEMA. Before
we pay we will thoroughly study and audit that bill. 
While we don't know the final number yet, I do know that it is prudent to
set aside funds to cover that bill.

This budget sends a strong and determined signal that the flood waters have
not washed away our commitment to our children.

I will continue to invest in the infrastructure of health care and education
that provides our people ways out of poverty.

I was in the Legislature in the 1980's and saw our health care and education
system dismantled. I will not let that happen again because it will make our
recovery agonizingly difficult. 

While there are many ideas on how to spend state dollars, this package is an
investment in Louisiana's future.

This is what is right for our state and our people.

Thank you. 


-30-


The Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation Louisiana's Fund for Louisiana's
People www.louisianahelp.org