Our very first post in October of last year offered a sobering look at Louisiana’s education system: “If Louisiana continues to increase educational attainment at the rate it has over the last decade (2000-09), the state will have a college-attainment …

Beginning Aug. 1, contractors overseeing major developments along the coast will be required to take steps to bring on local workers to complete their projects if they’re funded using certain state or federal monies. Moreover, it will link coastal residents …

What follows is a commentary crafted by the Public Affairs Research Council on the education laws passed during the 2012 regular legislative session.  Reform of K-12 education was the dominant issue of the 2012 Regular Legislative Session. Elementary, secondary and …

Dear Readers, The Political Desk will come to an end June 15. We had a simple mission from the beginning, a few goals that were jotted down on a legal pad around October last year. We wanted to focus on …

Earlier this week, Treasurer John Kennedy failed to get approval for two proposals to cut state consulting contracts and reduce government positions. But he did manage to drop a policy bomb at the feet of the Senate Fiance Committee. He …

Louisiana’s statewide elected officials had to file their personal financial disclosure forms with the Ethics Administration last week and they’re slowing becoming available to the public. Not surprisingly, the reports filed by Gov. Bobby Jindal and his top staffers have …

The full House approved legislation Monday that would give principals and superintendents more options in dealing with at-risk and troubled students. In a session that has been heavy on education reform it’s the only substantive bill on school discipline remaining …

A lot has been made of the “Fiscal Hawks” in the Louisiana House of Representatives. This is the group of conservative lawmakers who yanked $268 million worth of one-time monies out of House Bill 1, the state budget, last week. …

New storylines  have emerged following last week’s House debate over the state budget. For every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. And nowhere is that more true than in legislative politics. After watching its own negotiations breakdown …

How other states are handling one-time money and why Louisiana may be doomed to repeat its own mistakes. The big brouhaha over Louisiana’s $25 billion budget involves one-time money, basically new cash that cannot be counted on to return in …