No legislative endorsement necessary

A couple of passing thoughts on the current Legislative session that’s thankfully a little better than half over … It was reassuring to learn that state lawmaker Thomas Carmody removed his bill to make the Holy Bible the state book of Louisiana from consideration by the House, although it had already passed in committee on an 8-5 vote.

In point of fact, Carmody’s original idea was to make a specific copy of the Bible, housed in the Louisiana State Museum, the state book. But that concept somehow evolved to declaring the King James version of the Bible the state tome, which evolved to suggestions that Carmody was attempting to establish a state religion, which gratefully led to Carmody returning the bill to the calendar and moving on to more important issues.

Understanding Carmody’s original intent, it’s hard to condemn his motive. But the very idea that any version of the Holy Bible would be relegated to the same status as the state bird, or state fish or state tree was fairly offensive to me. There’s not much doubt that if queried, the vast majority of Louisianans would identify their religious preference as Christian – and their preferred spiritual guide is the Holy Bible – and that they value it more than any other book every published.

That pretty much makes it the state book – no legislative endorsement necessary.

Not so easily to discern is the legislature’s stand on Common Core State Standards, which Louisiana adopted three years ago, and the associated evaluation system, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

This might be an appropriate time to point out Louisiana’s educational ranking, after more than a full generation of students have moved from Pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade since the 1999 launch of the “accountability program” of LEAP and GEE tests, appears to remain a steady 49 out of 50 states. For the past three years, Louisiana has maintained an “F” grade on Education Week’s state-by-state report.

If Louisiana is to produce educated, prepared and competitive students for the 21st century, something must change. But that isn’t likely to happen if an uninformed public’s criticisms sway lawmakers to reverse the state’s educational course.

Part of the problem for state lawmakers is the misinformation circulating among parents, educators – and even some legislators about CCSS. Many appear to believe this approach to improving our national education standards is a federal power grab to institute national K-12 curriculum. And there’s also that assertion by some parents and educators that the standards are too rigorous for young learners. Another concern involves security of students’ personal information in reporting student achievement.

I would challenge those who have not taken the time to fully research the history of the CCSS development to do so and learn that CCSS simply sets the standards – the benchmarks; the state or local school districts design the curriculum to achieve the standards. While it appears that state lawmakers will address the personal information security issue – legislators would better serve Louisiana’s students by promoting implementation of CCSS and PARCC, rather than tinkering with any other part of it.

Hopefully the coalition of business, civic, and education leaders and parents who visited lawmakers last week will positively influence lawmakers to stay the course on improving education in Louisiana. Our children need every advantage to advance to a higher standard of living through a higher standard of education. CCSS is supported by our state business and industry leaders as a major avenue to competing in a global economy and ensuring Louisiana’s residents have a strong role in that economy.

Marty Carlson, a freelance writer, has been covering local news for the past 13 years. She can be reached via email at m_carlso@bellsouth.net.