Jindal: Cuts less than 10 percent

The Associated Press reported that Gov. Jindal has told the state's higher education officials to prep for a cut that's less than 10 percent.

Ten percent.  Which is less than the 32 percent officials were preparing for through a budget reduction exercise.

What does this mean exactly? Well officials will be figuring it out since the information is pretty fresh.

And it's a snow day. 

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Caddo facilities study results

Results from the Caddo Parish School Board's comprehensive facilities study are in, but this is just the beginning.
School Board members have 20 days to digest a 5000+ document showing the condition of all public schools and district facilities. The study is a part of the Vision 2020 plan to reshape schools.
In a presentation to the board this month, representatives from Houston-based Parsons Commercial Technology Group said the total estimated cost to raise conditions of Caddo schools to a good rating would range from $548 million to $803 million.
The report showed that of the 79 schools and sites assessed, 73 percent are in poor condition and 19 percent are in fair condition.
Concerns were raised about funds being used to maintain abandoned buildings, an issue also addressed in the study.  Read more http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100630020.
The board will hear recommendations from schools Superintendent Gerald Dawkins on July 27 about changes that should be made. This could include school consolidations, closures or other configurations such as more K-6 schools.
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Less high school grads but more going to college?

The Wall Street Journal reported today that fewer low-income and moderate-income students attended college in 2004 than in 1992. Here is that story: Fewer Low-Income Students Going to College - Real Time Economics - WSJ

For Louisiana that statistic is a bit difficult to find.

Both the Louisiana Department of Education and the Louisiana Board of Regents don't keep track of this information on the data available on their websites. But poking around, we found other statistics that were just as interesting.

In the latest information available (the 2007-2008 school year) there were 34,403 graduates from Louisiana public high schools. That's less than the 2000-01 school year -- 38, 314.

Those who graduated from high school in 2000-01 and became first-time full-time freshman was 15, 299. Of those, 39 percent of 5,900 students needed developmental courses in college.

Compare that to students who graduated from 2007-08. Out of 34,403 students, 15,958 became first-time full-time freshmen and 4,471 or 28 percent needed development courses.

Yes, less needed developmental courses but there are less are graduating over all. So how does that compare to on the district level? The patterns are similar.

Even though there more high school graduates than in years past going straight into college and less folks going into remedial courses, there are also less graduating high schoolers. Does that mean that those who do stay and graduate are more likely to go to a college/university? Perhaps. That's an interesting question to explore but while there are high school drop outs, there are also college drop outs. So now the question is how to address both problems?

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Podcast Two

Podcast 2

Icess Fernandez's Podcast

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No phones in the School Board room?

Walking into the Caddo Parish School Board room, I pay little attention to the sign posted on the door.

I can't even paraphrase what it says.

It's safe to assume there are others like me because on Tuesday night board President Lillian Priest reminded everyone that no electronic devices are allowed in the meeting room.

What? Huh...?

I guess this has been the law of the board room for quite some time, but I can find no policy online about the use of cell phones or other electronic devices in the board room.

Sure, I agree people should be courteous, put their cell phones on vibrate and go outside if they have to answer a call. But banning electronic devices altogether, even for the media, is enough to make me question the rules.

"We're asking people if you have to answer a call or make a text, just step outside," Priest said. "Even a board member, if that’s the case."

I can assure you the "rules" have not been followed. There are the news crews and their cameras, the occasional audience member with a cell phone and, yes, this includes board members at the horseshoe table. Priest also made reference to the latter when noting why rules were in place.

As an education reporter, whose job is to inform the community, the use of Twitter, recorders and maybe even a camera is necessary. My iPhone doesn't even make noises when I tweet.

Priest says she will discuss the issue with the board attorney and see if there are exceptions for people like me.

"It may be one of those things that we have to look at concerning the media," she said.

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What we didn't know about non traditional students until after we did the story

Today's story on non traditional students was an eye opener.

As an education reporter, you tend to see trends before they become trends. More students in a classroom could mean more students graduating which means 18 years ago, there was a high birth rate. We look at stats like that all the time and report the trends.

So reporting on non-traditional students, or students who have returned to school to after years away, was  what a typical higher education reporter does. The numbers have increased for SUSLA, BPCC, and LSUS in the past several years from 4,598 in 2006 to 5,025 in 2009. That's a huge jump for this area.

But compare those numbers with the number of students preparing to go to college and another story unfolds... there are more non-traditional students then there are high school students taking the ACT.

There are also more women than men going back to school.

These two stats open up a different insight for higher education in Northwest Louisiana.  Higher education has to be about workforce development more now than ever. Non-traditional students will be the fuel for the local economy.

But then what happens to the traditional students? How will they be catered to and coaxed into staying?

And the bigger question: With all the changes and cuts happening to higher education in the state, how can college and university be all things for all people? Or can it?


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Clausen resigns

 Sally Clausen's resignation is a shock to the higher education community.  

Clausen was the higher education commissioner for the state. And as such, she was in charge of everything college and university related including any budgets cuts that have came and will come down the pipe from the legislature.

Little is known about why Clausen resigned but her resignation letter was released. In it she said she was a distraction to the work of the board of regents. The letter does not detail specifics.

The board of regents will have an emergency meeting tomorrow at noon to put together a search committee for a new commissioner. The sooner the better. The legislative session is about to close and higher ed needs a leader to steer through the next round of cuts.

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