Common Core testing looms over St. Tammany's District 14 special election
March 27, 2015
The first of this year's two special elections for the St. Tammany Parish School Board in Louisiana is March 28, 2015. Either Dennis "Coach" Cousin (D) or John Murchison (I) will join the largely Republican school board as the District 14 representative. The winner will also become part of the board's struggle with the ramifications of Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) executive order allowing parents to opt out of the state's spring standardized tests.
After being automatically re-elected due to a lack of challengers in the 2014 general election, six-term District 14 incumbent Ray Anthony Alfred (D) died on September 17, 2014, at the age of 60.[1] According to Article VI, Section 13 of the Louisiana Constitution and state law, all vacancies on the board are filled by appointment by the St. Tammany Parish School Board for the remainder of the unexpired term of the vacated seat or, if the unexpired term is longer than one year, until a special election can be held.
Alfred's father, Anthony Alfred, was selected by the board to fill the vacancy in October 2014.[2] He will serve until the successor is determined in this election and has taken the prescribed oath of office.[3] Saturday's winner will serve until the next regular school board election in 2018.
The District 12 seat will also be up for special election on October 24, 2015, following the death of incumbent James "Ronnie" Panks Sr. (R) on January 14, 2015.[4] The candidate filing deadline for the District 12 election was September 10, 2015.
Spotlight issue: Common Core test opt-out complications
St. Tammany's school board has been wrestling with how to react to the consequences of Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) executive order allowing parents to opt out of the state's spring standardized tests. Under the state's current accountability scoring system, schools receive a zero for each student who does not take the state's standardized test. The scoring system determines district, school and teacher performance, all of which can be tied to monetary awards.[5]
With the confusion surrounding how opted-out students' scores could affect the district's performance scores, the St. Tammany school board sent two letters to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) in early February 2015 asking the board to hold a special meeting to place a moratorium on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) testing or to allow districts to remove students who do not take the standardized tests from the district's overall performance scores.[6]
At its March meeting, however, the BESE delayed making a decision on the issue of opt-outs and school performance scores until the summer.[7] One plan that had been submitted to the BESE at that meeting was proposed by State Superintendent John White and had been dubbed the "Common Core compromise." While White's plan passed out of committee with ease on March 5, 2015, the full board put the matter off until its meeting in June.[8]
Actual opt-out numbers in St. Tammany
As of March 11, 2015, 60 St. Tammany students had opted out of testing. While this was only a small percentage of students in the district, other districts in the state were facing much larger numbers: for example, Calcasieu Parish Public Schools reported 776 opt-outs at that time. Testing began on March 16, 2015.[9] On March 17, 2015, it was reported that a total of 228 St. Tammany students had been opted out, approximately 3 percent of the students eligible for the testing.[10]
Candidates
St. Tammany Parish Public Schools
District 14
☐ 
Dennis "Coach" Cousin
☐ 
John Murchison
See also
- St. Tammany Parish Public Schools special elections (2015)
- Louisiana school board elections, 2015
- School board elections, 2015
- Louisiana school districts
Footnotes
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany Parish School Board member Ray Alfred dies," September 17, 2014
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany School Board taps familiar candidate to fill open seat," October 3, 2014
- ↑ St. Tammany Parish Public Schools, "School Board: Policies," accessed December 31, 2014
- ↑ The Advocate, "Ronnie Panks, longest-serving St. Tammany School Board member, dies at 69," February 5, 2015
- ↑ The Advertiser, "Jindal issues executive order on PARCC tests; BESE responds," January 30, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "St. Tammany School Board again asks for guidance for Common Core test 'opt outs'," February 5, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Common Core opt-out policy decision put off by Louisiana education board," March 6, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Common Core compromise passes Louisiana education committee," March 5, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "No Common Core-aligned testing for 60 students in St. Tammany," March 11, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Picayune, "Louisiana Common Core test opt-outs top 4,100; still 1% of total," March 17, 2015
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