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Dear Thought Partners,
As we all know, Education came out very high in our Community Conversations as a pathway out of poverty. We also know Louisiana has always struggled with providing quality, equitable education for ALL of our students. So, I have to ponder why is it that when all the research points to education as the key, there are so many barriers to providing something that will and can create a greater Louisiana? Don't we want a better, greater Louisiana? Educating our citizens has to be a priority in Louisiana even when the state is broke.
In the report below, they compare the states in the U.S. to countries by Education. It shows that America is losing ground. So much so, that Louisiana has been compared to Kenya! Math and science are particularly rough: U.S. ranks 28th in the world for those subjects. Although we may be a developed nation, when education is broken down by state, we aren't all that different from countries that are more economically challenged. One reason is America's repeated failure to invest in education. According to the US News, federal funding for education has fallen drastically. Congress has cut funding for K-12 education by nearly 20 percent since 2011-five times more than overall spending cuts. And we all know what funding cuts have done for education in Louisiana.
So, let's keep pushing for quality, equitable education for all of Louisiana students.
Before Hurricane Katrina I knew a perpetually sad-faced third-grader at Lawrence D. Crocker Elementary School. There was no apparent neglect. His clothes were always clean. He was always perfectly groomed.
Read More.
Students aren't randomly assigned to schools that all operate under the same set of rules and that means we can't think of schools as stock cars in the same race. Read More.
United Way of Southeast Louisiana
Main Office: 2515 Canal Street New Orleans, LA 70119 |
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