(The Center Square) − The Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is tackling two critical issues facing the state’s education system: Teacher shortages and high truancy rates.
During its recent meeting, board members and BESE President Ronnie Morris provided updates on the challenges, progress, and plans to address the issues.Brumley highlighted the teacher shortage as a top concern but noted significant progress over the past three years. The state currently employs its largest number of teachers — 52,808 — and has reduced the teacher shortage gap from 2,500 vacancies to 1,000.”That’s encouraging, but we’re not there yet,” Morris said, emphasizing the importance of fully addressing the issue to ensure every student has access to a qualified teacher.A more urgent issue, however, is truancy. In the state capitol, the average truancy rate has remained at an alarming 55% over the past four years. Judge Edward Edwards underscored the financial implications, comparing the cost of educating a student — approximately $12,000 per year — to the $100,000 annual cost of incarceration.The correlation between truancy and crime has prompted BESE to take decisive action.The board is formalizing plans for a collaborative summit involving BESE members, state judges, and representatives from the governor’s office to address the truancy crisis.Dr. Sabra Kingham, from Gov. Jeff Landry’s team, will play a key role in this effort.”Imagine if truancy was 5% instead of 55%,” Morris said, urging stakeholders to envision the untapped potential in the state’s youth.Another bottleneck identified is early childhood education. BESE member and former Sen. Conrad Appel advocated for prioritizing early learning initiatives, emphasizing their potential to improve long-term outcomes. Despite challenges, Louisiana recently achieved a milestone, ranking first nationally in fourth-grade reading growth.However, concerns remain about students entering high school unprepared due to social promotion, with fourth graders still struggling to read at grade level.The board recognized the taxpayer implications of the education system’s shortcomings. Beyond the financial costs of truancy and teacher shortages, Brumley pointed to the broader economic consequences of failing to prepare students adequately for the workforce. While significant progress has been made, Brumley and BESE members acknowledge there is much work ahead.”I’m proud of our progress, but I’m not satisfied,” Morris said.
