Written by

Gannett Louisiana

From: The News Star

Louisiana’s new superintendent of education, John White, answers questions about his new post and Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposals to change K-12 public education.

–What brought you to Louisiana?

 

White: I came to Louisiana for really two reasons. (Joel Klein, chancellor of New York Public Schools) and I had become really close with Paul Pastorek and had grown to admire Paul’s and the state’s approach to education in Louisiana, particularly in New Orleans, and as we did that, Paul showed us the other things he was doing in Louisiana. I began to understand the longer legacy of education changes in Louisiana under Governor Foster and others and really came to see where the dialogue on education in Louisiana was a more frank and, I thought, children-oriented one than certainly the dialogue in New York had become, and I think still is.

 

–What are your thoughts on the governor’s education reform package?

 

White: I am very excited about his agenda because I think it really does address the most immediate and necessary changes across the school system of Louisiana. When you are in the parish systems, they tend to acknowledge these are, whether you like them or not, lasting and important reforms that work, especially toward families who have been too long underserved by our system.

 

–What are the major components of the governor’s plan?

 

White: It has aligning early childhood education under a quality-oriented set of standards, and it’s a very critical move. For too long we’ve allowed the funding streams to determine which early childhood programs get with accountability systems, and that’s inequitable and wrong.

 

The teacher agenda — I think is just a set of logical proposals. When I’m in parish systems, I see that we have an evaluation system that is unable to do much of substance other than say you’re effective or you’re not. We’re not, as a state, doing a lot in the way of compensating teachers in a way that ensures that we retain quality teachers, and we are not really doing a lot to speed the development and removal of very, very low performing teachers. And we’re not doing a lot to increase the salaries of new teachers so that we can keep them and compete parish to parish or state to state. All of these things are about giving parishes the incentives and the mandates to change the way they operate in ways of managing their work force as it regards tenure, compensation, the way layoffs are done. All of these things are things that no matter whether we have an evaluation system, if we don’t change the regulatory frameworks and the statutes in this state, districts are not going to change the way they do things.

 

Written by

The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE — If your son or daughter is one of the 44,000 Louisiana students who qualify for a state-funded grant from the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, don’t expect it to cover all of the expenses of enrolling in a state university.

“There’s a misconception of what TOPS pays for,” said James Caillier, executive director of the Taylor Foundation and a TOPS proponent. “I keep hearing legislators and businessmen say they’re tired of paying for all these kids to go to school. TOPS is not paying all the costs of students to go to college.”

Meg Casper, associate commissioner of higher education under the Board of Regents, said another common complaint is that TOPS pays for students who can afford to pay their own way, so an income cap should be placed on it.

A recent study group called the Governance Commission suggested that the link between what universities charge for tuition and what TOPS pays should be severed. The group also suggested a cap on what it would pay.

Casper said that was the commission’s suggestion, and “so far, the Regents has not pushed any similar legislation.”

And with opposition from Gov. Bobby Jindal, any effort to cap TOPS has little chance of passing. The governor has veto authority over such legislation, unless it’s a constitutional amendment.

Jindal said he would fight to protect the merit-based scholarship, which now has a steady revenue source from tobacco-settlement revenue that provides partial funding.

The TOPS program was designed to pay tuition, the amount universities charge to help pay operational costs and salaries. But there’s a lot more that students have to pay — an average of $3,300 a year — that’s not covered by TOPS.

Caillier, a former president of the University of Louisiana System, said Louisiana first offered a student tuition-assistance program in 1984 that evolved into the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students in 1997. The initial program had an income cap, but it was lifted when TOPS was implemented.

Oilman Patrick Taylor of New Orleans was a major proponent of offering scholarships to students and lobbied the Legislature to create TOPS. He offered to pay the tuition of students at a predominantly black high school if they would study hard and go to college.

 

TOPS was renamed in Taylor’s honor two years ago.

In 1997, TOPS did cover most of the costs of going to college. Universities at the time assessed only building fees and student activity fees, which Caillier calls “insignificant” compared to the amount of fees imposed now.

Over the years, universities have imposed various fees, such as “technology,” “operational” and “academic excellence” fees and an “energy surcharge.”

The new assessments were prompted by a Supreme Court interpretation that a 1997 constitutional amendment designed to stop state agencies from imposing fees on consumers without a two-thirds legislative vote also applied to raising college tuition.

Louisiana is the only state that requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to approve tuition increases. That requirement, coupled with some prior college presidents’ reluctance to impose higher costs on students, led to Louisiana universities having some of the lowest tuition in the nation.

But with recent years’ budget cuts and new heads of universities and university systems, the desire to hold down tuition has dissolved, and they’re looking for more money.

“Universities couldn’t get the Legislature to OK tuition increases, so they imposed fees,” Caillier said. “Legislators are more willing to approve fees, but they always ask if the fee is covered by TOPS.”

Tuition has risen 3 to 5 percent in each of the past five years as lawmakers approved a temporary suspension of the two-thirds requirement, and the GRAD Act allows tuition increases if campuses meet performance standards.

Some universities imposed fees on their own, said Caillier and Casper. It was easier than coming to the Legislature until the clampdown on fee increases hit them too.

The fees significantly increase the cost of attendance.

For example, a Louisiana resident student attending Louisiana Tech in 2011, the most expensive school in the University of Louisiana System, would pay $4,335 a year in tuition, but by the time all fees are added, the cost of enrolling jumps to $6,478. Non-residents are charged an additional $7,125 fee.

 

That doesn’t include the cost of books, food, housing and transportation.

In 2011, Louisiana Tech assessed a $240 Academic Excellence fee, $138 Operational fee, $50 Academic Enhancement fee, $38 Building Use fee, $120 Technology fee, $1,072 University Self-Assessed fee, and $269 in student-assessed fees.

According to the LSU website, besides $2,285 in tuition, students in the fall 2011 semester paid $494.70 in “required fees,” a $245 Academic Excellence Fee, a $75 Technology Fee and an $80 Operational Fee. “Required” fees include $10 nonrefundable registration fee and $155 Student Health Service fee.

Students also pay $134.50 in “Student Recommended Fees,” broken down as $2 Crisis Intervention (The Phone), $5 KSLU Radio, $5 Performing Arts, $24 LSU Union Maintenance Fund, $35 mass transit, $2 LSU-TV, $1 Women’s Mass Transit, $5.50 Gumbo (yearbook), $1.50 Legacy (magazine), $2 Reveille (newspaper) and $5.50 for Student Government support and initiatives.

Another $195.20 per semester is assessed for some of the same items in the student-assessed fees because students approved increases. The largest are another $130 for the LSU Union renovation, maintenance and activities, and another $31.20 for the mass transit system.

LSU has a Net Price Indicator on its website (www.lsu.edu) that gives students a good idea of what it would cost.

A simulation shows that an 18-year-old Louisiana graduate taking 12 hours and living with parents or relatives shows an estimated cost of attendance of $14,792 a year. Besides tuition, students in that category pay $4,682 for room and board, $1,500 for books and supplies, and $3,400 estimated personal expenses, entertainment and transportation.

Living off campus with a roommate is estimated at $22,944 a year. Living on campus in a dorm and eating cafeteria food are estimated to cost $20,614.

All scenarios could be reduced $4,404 if the student received merit and need-based aid.

And then there are books.

At one time, students could reap big savings by renting used books. A check of the ULM Bookstore prices, though, shows that in some cases there’s not that much difference between renting and buying a used book.

New books often are a different story.

If you’re going to Pharmacy School, the three pharmacology books for one course (PHRD-4083) can run you $418 new or $313 used. Knock it down to $261.30 by renting one used and one new and buying one used. That’s the cheapest option and chances are, you’ll never use them again, according to one pharmacy grad.

By comparison, a book titled “How to Ace Calculus, The Streetwise Guide” that’s used in Math 5004 at UL-Monroe is only $20 new and $15 used. Renting a new book is $19, so it doesn’t take a math degree to see that renting is not much of a savings over buying. Used rental is $10.50.

 Source: Alexandria Town Talk