Education and Workforce Development.

For decades, LABI has fought to ensure students have access to a high-quality education that produces the skills needed to thrive in the workforce. LABI has consistently advocated for students, parents, taxpayers, and employers alike and will continue to champion an education system that prepares students for high-wage, high-demand jobs and invests in life-long learners. While Louisiana has made real progress, much work remains. LABI will continue to emphasize educational excellence as essential for improving the attractiveness of Louisiana as a destination for families, and to prepare the state’s future workforce.

Major Issues.

Workforce Development

LABI Position: Support the transformation of Louisiana’s workforce development system toencourage partnerships across early childhood education programs, K-12 schools, universities, community and technical colleges and employers to create and fill high-demand, high-wage jobs. Encourage the coordinated and streamlined utilization of public funds and programs — federal, state and local — toward data-driven workforce development goals. IT and manufacturing. Overall, the voice and perspective of Louisiana employers must be included in all efforts from top–to–bottom in workforce development.

Talent Supply & Development: Support the implementation of Act 330 of the 2024 regular session to unify and strategically align workforce development programs and funding under the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC), which serves as the primary point of contact responsible for directing and efficiently delivering workforce solutions for the Louisiana economy. Encourage the continued collaboration among state and local agencies, educational institutions, and employers to establish a talent supply chain that properly serves the needs of Louisiana employers. Support the creation of a cabinet-level office to oversee and coordinate workforce development programs and their funding streams across state agencies in order to achieve strategic alignment between state and local efforts to establish a talent supply chain that properly serves Louisiana employer needs. 

Career and Technical Education: Support legislation and policies to expand and improve the delivery of skills training in partnership with Louisiana employers, community colleges and K-12 schools. LABI supports improvements to the JumpStart program to incentivize training and certification for students in fields with high-demand, high-wage jobs. 

Post-Secondary Alignment: LABI will encourage the continued development of a post-secondary education system (adult education, technical colleges, community colleges and university systems) that will be efficiently coordinated to provide shared resources and facilities, non-duplicated offerings and articulation agreements. This system should be tailored to each region of the state to -offer the proper mix of special workforce training programs, vocational and technical training, industry-based certifications, two-year associate degrees and advanced degrees, and to provide a rapid response to changes in business. Development and direction of these systems should include input from the business community and include metrics designed to measure the progress of each educational component, holding accountable those responsible for the success of their students. LABI encourages the state to adopt and fully implement higher admission standards for four-year universities, discontinue low-enrollment or duplicative programs, continue significant investment in the MJ Foster Promise Program and improve articulation and transfer agreements from two-year to four-year schools. 

Early Childhood Education

LABI Position: Support increased access to high-quality childcare and early childhood learning from birth to age four to ensure all children in Louisiana enter kindergarten ready to learn and families have the support they need to participate in the workforce. Support efforts to ensure quality, affordable childcare availability in every community, including expanded access to licensed home-based family childcare and tax incentives for employer-sponsored childcare. Support efforts to provide the early childhood community with a voice at the governance table. LABI will continue to advocate for students, parents, taxpayers and employers to connect a more skilled workforce with high-wage, high-demand jobs in a 21st century economy and will support high-quality daycare and early childhood learning. 

Public School K-12 Accountability System

LABI Position: Following the passage of a strong, work-based learning K-12 accountability formula in 2024, collaboration and engagement between businesses and with local school systems on internship and/or apprenticeship opportunities for Louisiana students is key to ensuring all high school students are prepared for the workforce or post-secondary education. Support the implementation of the new, work-based learning K-12 accountability program. Oppose efforts to eliminate or suspend accountability components such as a rigorous curriculum, statewide testing, or the assignment of letter grades to schools. 

High Standards

LABI Position: Support high standards and rigorous curriculum in mathematics, science, and English Language Arts (“ELA”). Support “Mastery” as the minimum student proficiency level in assessments (as opposed to the current “Basic”), which would put Louisiana students on par with students in other states for comparative purposes. Support policies ensuring every student is at or above grade level in reading and math upon completion of third grade. Oppose “hold harmless” policies, curving of school letter grades, or other attempts to artificially inflate performance statistics.

Current Issues.

8(g): Support the integrity of the 8(g) fund and oppose any attempts to use those funds to supplant general fund revenues for education. 

Adult Education: Support legislation and policy to reorganize and improve the high school equivalency diploma, to provide “soft skills” or “employability” training. Support initiatives to bring adult learners back into the workforce, including rational and effective re-entry programs and policies for ex-offenders. Support increased investment in education programs in state and local prisons, as well as efforts to connect ex-offenders with hiring employers upon release. Support efforts to offer targeted reskilling and upskilling training to workers who have been out of the workforce or need upgraded skills to meet workforce demands. 

Charter Schools: Support the expansion of high-quality charter schools.  

Classroom Funding: Re-examine the state’s school finance funding formula, the MFP, to determine how to get more money into the classroom, ensure that tax dollars follow the student, and determine the actual cost of delivering quality educational services 

Conflicts of Interest: Support legislation that would prohibit employees of local school systems from serving on BESE. 

Education Flexibility: Support flexibility in education delivery models and learning modalities. In today’s fluid environment, it is important to acknowledge the need for educational flexibility in order to best meet a child’s learning needs inside and outside the classroom. 

Freedom to Work: Over time, a number of state entities have created artificial barriers to work in the form of occupational licensing. Unless a license is necessary for public health and safety, individuals should be “free to work.” LABI supports efforts to review occupational licensing and remove costly and time-consuming barriers when possible. 

High School Dropouts: Support efforts to reduce Louisiana’s public school dropout rate and draw recent dropouts back into school or training. 

High School Redesign: Support efforts to ensure all high school students demonstrate true college or career readiness through completion of extensive college-level courses, earning an associate degree, or earning an industry-valued credential before graduation. 

Local School Board Reform: Act 1 of the 2012 legislative session included local school board reforms, namely prohibiting school board members from making personnel decisions. Support additional legislation and policy that would encourage the focus of local school boards to be on improving failing schools and raising student academic achievement. Examine bureaucratic impediments to reform at the local school board level and support legislation that would require local school boards to be more accountable for the academic achievement of the students in their districts. 

Paycheck Protection: Support legislation to reform or eliminate taxpayer-funded bodies (such as local school districts) from collecting membership dues or other monies for organizations that engage in political activities (such as teacher unions) through automatic payroll deduction. 

Post-Secondary Funding: Support tuition and fee autonomy. Implement performance-based funding in the state formula for higher education. Seek to maximize federal funding to creatively support students to complete their degrees and credentials. 

Post-Secondary Governance: Support the creation of a single board for post-secondary education to manage and oversee the state’s four-year post-secondary education institutions as well as separate LCTCS board to govern the state’s community and technical college system, recognizing the unique mission of two-year institutions and their significant role in workforce development. Support recommendations to better define the role, scope and mission of each higher education institution, restructure governance to maximize efficiency, and reorganize campuses to support their missions and align them to regional economic development priorities where relevant. 

Regional workforce needs, geographical proximity, enrollment, graduation rates, students’ performance on professional examinations, job placement and retention, duplication of programs and accreditation difficulties are starting points for consideration. Shared facilities, faculty, administrative systems and services, and supplies for technical training (secondary, technical college and four-year universities) should be part of the effort to consolidate and improve efficiency. 

Post-Secondary Reform: LABI recognizes the economic imperative to improve retention rates on college campuses and graduate many more students every year in both two and four-year institutions. LABI supports removing barriers to smooth the path for adults to re-enter college as well as campus-level innovations such as mentoring, mapping and stacking credentials, decreasing the time-to-degree, putting textbooks online, and reforming remedial coursework. LABI supports efforts to ensure students can access the training they need for high-quality jobs in their communities. 

School Choice: Support a strong education savings account program implemented by the Louisiana Department of Education and BESE, following the passage of the Louisiana GATOR Scholarship Program in the 2024 regular session. Support other avenues to expand school choice for students including tax credits or deductions for tuition to attend nonpublic schools. 

School Leadership: Support efforts to identify and recruit outstanding individuals with records of success into school leadership positions, especially principals and superintendents. Support alternative certification paths for principals that allow and encourage professionals and leaders in fields outside of education to consider becoming principals. 

School-to-Work Transition: Support programs in high school that offer dual enrollment, college credit, industry-based certifications, and skills training, including work-based learning opportunities to empower students to succeed in the workforce upon graduation. Support increased access to postsecondary advisors and career-exploration to support students in finding their path. Advocate for initiatives focused on career awareness, workplace exposure and real work experience for young people, including internships, apprenticeships, and pre-apprenticeships. 

School Safety: LABI acknowledges the direct link between students’ mental and behavioral wellness and positive student achievement and supports the early identification of and mental health supports for students in distress, detection of emerging threats, and promotion of a supportive school climate in reducing the prevalence of school violence. LABI will promote efforts to identify and prioritize resources available to improve the safety of Louisiana schools, including the fortification of school building infrastructure, and increased access to comprehensive school-based mental health services. 

Teacher Quality: Support efforts to improve teacher quality, including policy changes to improve teacher preparation, in Louisiana. The classroom teacher is the single most important factor in and influence on students’ educational success, and LABI will work to strengthen the state’s professional teaching corps. 

Teacher Recruitment & Retention: Advocate for policies that address the teacher workforce shortage. Support efforts to offer a competitive salary—including dynamic compensation schedules to reward and retain highly-effective educators and incentivize educators to work in high-need subject areas, high-need areas of the state, and low-performing schools. Support legislation that incentivizes districts to offer maternity leave for educators. Strengthen efforts to reduce barriers to entry into the profession while maintaining teacher quality. 

Teacher Tenure: Support legislation to repeal tenure for new teachers. Oppose legislation that would expand tenure, sabbatical and extended leave benefits for all school employees, including post-secondary institutions. Oppose any legislation that would repeal or damage Act 1 of 2012. 

TOPS: Support efforts to redesign the merit-based Tuition Opportunity Program for Students scholarship with a dynamic funding model, placing greater value on students pursuing education for jobs in high-demand industries. Maximize TOPS’ return on investment by supporting efforts to allocate funding in alignment with state workforce needs and consideration of financial need. Support efforts to strengthen the academic requirements to receive the TOPS scholarship and oppose efforts to weaken current requirements. Protect the substitution of ACT WorkKeys assessments (silver or higher-level attainment) as an alternative eligibility requirement to the ACT score for TOPS-Tech scholarships and support other TOPS-Tech revisions that contribute to building a trained, ready workforce Advocate for accountability measures and incentives for universities to support student degree completions. 

Ongoing Policy.

Collective Bargaining: Oppose legislation mandating collective bargaining and/or binding arbitration by any public body.

Parent/Teacher/Citizen Empowerment: Support efforts to provide parents, citizens and educators with factual information about education issues at all levels and teach them how to get involved and make the education system work for them and their children.

School Discipline: Support efforts to address the issue of school discipline and work to identify solutions to classroom management problems while keeping disruptive students in learning environments. Support efforts to create effective alternative schools for students who do not perform well in traditional school settings.

Contacts.

Mary Beth Derrickson serves as Education and Workforce Development Council Director. In this capacity, she coordinates business involvement in education issues, ranging from early childhood education to workforce development.

Mary Beth Derrickson

Director, Education & Workforce Development Council
marybethh@labi.org

Arthur Dupre

Chair, Education & Workforce Development Council
Arete Scholars
adupre@aretescholars.org