Times-Picayune and Gambit have both come out in support of the school facility millage on December 6th.
- Before the flood, many schools in New Orleans were old and in deplorable shape because of years of deferred maintenance. There was no dedicated stream of revenue for repairs. It would be a terrible waste to allow that to happen again with the schools being built or refurbished post-Katrina.
- This proposition will NOT increase your taxes: The 4.97 mill tax currently received by schools to pay construction bond debt would be redirected gradually (when not needed to pay the bonds) and dedicated to facility preservation. Your taxes will not increase.
- Want more information? Read this FAQ on the millage from OPSB.
Help pass the millage – What YOU can do:
- VOTE on December 6th! Turnout looks to be low, so every vote is important.
- Share this information with your friends.
- Put up a yard sign. Email me at ljacobs@educatenow.net, and I will get you one.
Other news of note (or…mini news clippings)
- Thirty-six of 57 charter schools now overseen by the RSD are eligible to switch to OPSB control, but so far none have voted to return.
- Why are they not voting to return? Peter Cook has a theory in The Definition of Outrageous.
- Our schools must serve students who still have very high rates of PTSD.
- The new principal of Sylvanie Williams is the focus of a year-long series on New Orleans schools by the Christian Science Monitor and the Hechinger Report. Read the first installment: Krystal Hardy, new kind of principal.
- The Atlantic Monthly examines the complex issues surrounding school discipline policies at no excuses charter high schools in New Orleans.
- The Urban League was awarded $1.2 million from the Walton Family Foundation to expand efforts to help parents evaluate their children’s education options.
- In What the GOP’s win means for education, Rick Hess and Mike McShain explain how the GOP’s wave could affect schools.