School boards in Louisiana have come in for a considerable amount of discussion and commentary since State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek put forth a plan concerning those boards.

Mr. Pastorek has proposed revising both the duties and compensation of school board members. In a nutshell the proposals call for the duty of the board to be more or less restricted to making general policy and leave the day to day operation of the district up to the person the board hires as superintendent. He would also eliminate the salary of school board members.

About a year ago Mr. Pastorek was in the news, including in From the Back Porch when the Governor and legislature gave him a $56,000 annual pay raise. He said that he could not remain in the position without the raise. At that time I questioned his qualification for the position since I could find no mention of previous experience in education except as a student.

He was a New Orleans attorney who had served as counsel for NASA. And here they were giving him a pay increase in excess of a classroom teacher’s total gross pay for a year. I found no indication that he was ever in a classroom trying to get it across spelling to 20 lively youngsters that in English spelling i comes before e - except when it doesn’t.

I did get an E-mail from him after the column appeared and he said that we might get together when he was in my area and he could explain some things to me. Either he hasn’t been in my area during the past year or he forgot about explaining anything to me.

I have to admit there could be some value in some of his suggestions. Unfortunately there has been cases when school board members have taken on the duty of firing a coach who didn’t win  enough championships to suit his or her desires, coerced the administration to fire a teacher who flunked the star halfback, hire his or her nephew as the new band director, etc. It is interesting to note the number of members of school board members around the state who have close family members employed in their districts.

Louisiana in one of a very small, though growing, minority of states where school board members receive salaries in excess of normal expenses incurred through their service. If a parish district has a 12-member board it is likely that board member salaries amount to more than $130,000 a year.

Having lived in states where members receive no salary there often was a major problem in getting citizens to run for school boards. However, the salary level of members in Louisiana, while not as high as one or two other states, is still too much for what should be a desire to serve. I get peeved when I continue to hear elected officials talk about the importance of citizens to volunteer to serve the public but then insist on getting paid for virtually everything they do in what is, or should be,  in many cases, a second income position.

School boards over the years have seen their responsibilities shrink with the influx of state and federal money flowing into public schools. The Congress and the state legislatures don’t give out money without some control over that money. This has been particularly true in the matter of curriculum.

In the first half of the century many states had a minimum of required courses. In Iowa where I coached in the 1950s, the only courses required by the state were two semesters of American history, one semester of Iowa history and government and two hours per week of physical education. This gave local school boards considerable control on what courses were taught in their district. For instance, virtually every rural school offered a rather extensive curriculum in vocational agriculture.

The superintendent should be in charge of administering the school based on the policy of a school board.  Superintendents should in charge of hiring principals and principals should be in charge of hiring teachers in their schools.

I think that is basically what Mr. Pastorek is proposing, when you eliminate the gobbledegook that bureaucrats insist on using. But I might add one more thing. Instead of the board members hiring - and firing - superintendents, I would propose that superintendents be elected by the voters in the district.

Trivia Time
What was the name of the high school where Our Miss Brooks taught in the radio and television series and what subject did she teach? Answer to last question.     President Calvin Coolidge said, “The business of America is America.”

Contact
George Frasher at 337-238-3433, E-mail frasher@cebridge.net.