Landry, Brumley push for sweeping classroom changes for teachers

State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley and Gov. Jeff Landry presented the Let Teachers Teach recommendations in a joint news conference. (Allison Allsop)

Louisiana’s governor and the state’s K-12 public school leader unveiled recommendations they say will free teachers to focus on classroom instruction rather than what they consider bureaucratic hindrances. 

The 18 recommendations from the Let Teachers Teach workgroup cover professional learning, required training, student behavior and discipline, teachers’ non-academic responsibilities, curriculum, instruction and planning. Gov. Jeff Landry and Superintendent Cade Brumley shared the workgroup report Wednesday in a joint news conference. 

The workgroup was created earlier this year and is composed of more than two dozen educators. The leader, Kylie Altier, is Louisiana’s Teacher of the Year for 2024. 

“This is the best job,” Altier said about teaching. “There is not a job more fulfilling or better in the world, all because of children. However, the reality is that many teachers don’t feel they have the time, capacity or autonomy to do this important work in a sustainable way.”

Curriculum and instruction

The first of the three recommendations asks to eliminate mandated scripts from teaching manuals. Teachers are often given scripts with the curriculum to base their lessons on, but teachers complain they are being required to closely follow these scripts instead of using their own background and knowledge. 

When asked about how this recommendation might interfere with bills from this session that restrict what can be discussed in classrooms, Gov. Jeff Landry said that there should not be any conflict and that teachers should be able to take a curriculum and add their “creative teaching talent” to it.

Two recommendations call for the Department of Education to provide better website access for materials and guidance on how to implement curricula. 

The workgroup acknowledges many useful guides, workbooks and other materials are available on the state website, but it notes they can be difficult to locate. Without easy access to these materials, teachers are at a disadvantage when teaching core subject areas. 

Teachers would also like guidance on how to pace the curriculum throughout the semester. 

Student behavior and discipline

The first of four recommendations on discipline seeks to exempt student behavior records from school accountability scores. Specifically, the workgroup wants to prevent student suspension rates from impacting school report card grades that the state issues. 

Currently, schools require “urgent intervention” if their suspension rates are more than two times the national average for three or more consecutive years. Middle schools with a suspension rate over 5% and high schools with a suspension rate over 20% for three consecutive years also call for interventions.

Schools must report their suspension rates to the U.S. Department of Education, and they are required to be used to calculate school report cards under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. 

The workgroup also recommends removing disruptive students from the classroom and, in extreme cases, from schools. Their report calls for “ungovernable” students to be sent to alternative schools.

The recommendations also call upon school systems, advocacy groups and the criminal justice system to work together in creating guidelines for consistently absent students. 

“I think that somewhere along the line we highlighted the disruptiveness over the learning, and so we want to bring back some discipline into those classrooms,” Landry said. 

Non-academic duties

Several recommendations seek to limit the non-teaching responsibilities of educators — when such tasks are necessary — or compensate them for the additional work. 

Specifically, the workgroup urges trained mental health professionals be provided for students so teachers do not have to take on counseling duties. Their report calls it an “undue burden and disservice to students.”

The workgroup also asked that teachers be paid for non-academic work. The Louisiana House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday that seeks to do just that. Senate Bill 205 now makes its way to the governor’s desk. 

Last year, then-Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed a bill to require school employees to receive pay for any work performed outside of their assigned duties. It would have also required teachers to be paid for their planning time outside school hours. 

Edwards felt the additional payments would put a burden on local school systems already stretched thin. Charter schools and special school districts were exempt from the legislation, which he said in his veto message was unfair. 

What’s next?

Changes suggested in the workgroup’s report will require approval from the appropriate oversight body, which could be the Louisiana Department of Education, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Louisiana Legislature or local school boards.

Any legislative changes would have to wait until 2025 as lawmakers have already passed the deadline for filing new proposals in their ongoing session.

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