[StBernard] Protecting Higher Education

[Westley Annis]

Dear Friends - 

We recently announced our legislative package to protect higher education
funding in the upcoming budget, while improving outcomes and student
success. I announced on Monday that we have identified enough creative
solutions in next year's budget to protect higher education and limit its
reduction to less than 10 percent. This means we will ensure higher
education funding is protected, while also providing schools with the
authority to generate revenue as they improve their outcomes. 
 
We also need to enhance the GRAD Act we put into law last year to give our
schools more autonomy and cut through red tape and bureaucracy.  As I told
the Monroe News-Star
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7576%7c9390&digest=eh
D38NtweuRqauMblbfOZg&sysid=1> , the number of dollars you have is only as
good as how you spend them, and thus we must update our standards to reflect
this. The current higher education formula is complicated, and it must be
made easier to understand while focusing more on results.
 
We also believe that the structure of our education oversight boards and
committees is not designed for efficiency or clarity. The sheer size and
administrative bulk of the system do not lend themselves to collaboration.
To increase efficiencies in higher education, we are supporting a
constitutional amendment this year to merge the five boards into a single
board with advisory councils for colleges of the same type.  A single board
will streamline our higher education leadership structure, improve outcomes
and allow us to shift money from overhead to the classroom.
 
The New Orleans Times-Picayune
<http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-8/129663189528866
0.xml&coll=1>  also reported on our request to have a federal judge oversee
the BP claims process in order to ensure fairness in the compensation of
losses sustained in the oil spill. Increased visibility into this payment
process will help us better understand how decisions are being made, while
ensuring they are being made fairly.
 
The Baton Rouge Advocate
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7577%7c9390&digest=hW
UHw9ZeYlrvpIrxxdLB2w&sysid=1>  reported this past week the U.S. Department
of Justice ranked Louisiana's unemployment fund as among the best in the
country.  Our sound fiscal management practices are one reason we've been
able to weather the national economic recession.  Keeping taxes low and
ensuring we keep our financial system strong will continue to serve us well
as the national economy recovers.
 
This week, the Shreveport Times
<http://cl.publicaster.com/ClickThru.aspx?pubids=393%7c7578%7c9390&digest=SB
4%2bpSlLwsiCVwS7G%2b5xmQ&sysid=1>  also reported that the ban on illegal
bath salts came right on time. Since the ban went into effect there have
only a handful of calls to the poison control center relating to these
dangerous drugs - down from the dozens of calls before we issued an
executive order on January 6th declaring six chemicals related to these
salts a part of Louisiana's controlled drug laws. We took the dangerous and
even deadly effects of these drugs seriously by taking immediate action to
get them off of our streets and away from our children. 

Sincerely, 

Governor Bobby Jindal