Details on La. Gov. Jindal’s Common Core and PARCC Exit

In a press release on June 18, 2014, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal made a number of statements regarding Louisiana’s participation in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the associated Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC)– one of two assessment consortia (groups of states) connected to the CCSS.

Some have questioned whether Jindal is serious or just showcasing for the cameras.

He is serious.

Jindal Suspends PARCC

First, allow me to offer the text of the executive order that Jindal issued to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) regarding the suspension of PARCC for the 2014-15 school year:

 

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. BJ 2014 – 6

BOARD OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION –

SUSPENSION OF STATEWIDE ASSESSMENT STANDARDS AND PRACTICES

RULE REVISIONS

 WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions of Article IV, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974, as amended, and La. R.S. 49:970, the Governor may issue an executive order which suspends any rule or regulation adopted by a state department, agency, board or commission within thirty days of adoption; and

 WHEREAS, on February 20, 2014, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education published a notice of intent in the Louisiana Register of proposed revisions to Bulletin 118—Statewide Assessment Standards and Practices (LAC 28:CXI.113); and

 WHEREAS, on May 20, 2014,  the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education published a final notice in the Louisiana Register to adopt revisions to Bulletin 118—Statewide Assessment Standards and Practices (LAC 28:CXI.113); and

 WHEREAS, the revisions to Bulletin 118—Statewide Assessment Standards and Practices (LAC 28:CXI.113), broadly construed, inappropriately instructs the Louisiana Department of Education to purchase assessments in a method that may not be compliant with Louisiana law, while also appropriately allowing the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to authorize  paper assessments in the 2014 – 2015 school year.

 NOW THEREFORE, I, BOBBY JINDAL, Governor of the State of Louisiana, by virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution and laws of the State of Louisiana, do hereby order and direct as follows:

 SECTION 1:  The revisions to Bulletin 118—Statewide Assessment Standards and Practices (LAC 28:CXI.113), published as a final notice on May 20, 2014, are hereby suspended.

 SECTION 2:   The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is authorized and directed to implement a process to authorize paper assessments in the 2014-2015 school year.

 SECTION 3:   The Louisiana Department of Education, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and any other departments, commissions, boards, offices, entities, agencies, and officers of the State of Louisiana, or any political subdivision thereof, are authorized and directed to comply with the suspension of the revisions to LAC 28:CXI.113 of this Order.

 SECTION 4:   This Order is effective upon signature and shall remain in effect unless amended, modified, terminated, or rescinded.

 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand officially and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of Louisiana, at the Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 18th day of June, 2014.

 /s/ Bobby Jindal______________

GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA

ATTEST BY

THE GOVERNOR

 /s/ Tom Schedler__________

SECRETARY OF STATE

[Emphasis added.]

Almost immediately, Louisiana State Superintendent John White issued his own press release stating that Louisiana would continue with CCSS and PARCC as planned. However, he hasn’t the legal backing to support this assertion.

Jindal’s suspension of PARCC occurred within thirty days of May 20, 2014– with one day to spare.

So, that takes care of one issue– suspension of PARCC.

Jindal pulled the funding for PARCC (first payment due August 31,2014). Apparently, White used the same contract for PARCC as was used for the iLEAP test in 2003. Suspicious.

Note also that on April 8, 2014, White told the Louisiana House Appropriations Committee that the PARCC MOU (memorandum of understanding) committed Louisiana to the design and development phase of PARCC– not to purchasing PARCC. (See partial transcript of the April 8 meeting here.)

White has produced no contract for Louisiana to purchase PARCC– which means that the BESE decision to adopt PARCC on May 20, 2014, is the only formal action taken to tie Louisiana to using PARCC.

And Jindal suspended that action, effective June 18, 2014.

Jindal is approving the paper assessments that BESE planned– which means districts are relieved of the stress (financial and otherwise) of offering computerized assessments in 2014-15.

Jindal Orders Competitive Bidding on Louisiana Assessments and Audit on PARCC Spending

A second executive order issued by Jindal orders BESE to conduct a bidding process for Louisiana assessments in accordance with Louisiana state law:

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. BJ 2014 – 7

STATE PROCUREMENT OF ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS

 WHEREAS, Article VII, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 expresses the prohibition that “the funds, credit, property, or things of value of the state or of any political subdivision shall not be loaned, pledged, or donated to or for any person, association, or corporation, public or private.”;

 WHEREAS, elements of this constitutional prohibition reveal themselves in statutory mandates that public bodies conduct competitive procurement processes designed to promote public confidence in the cost and quality of goods, ensure transparency by requiring public notice, and safeguard the important public policy that public funds – always derived from taxpayers – be spent wisely;

WHEREAS, the Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education are each subject to the Louisiana Procurement Code (La. R.S. 39:1551, et seq.), the laws on Professional, Personal, Consulting, and Social Services Contracts (La. R.S. 39:1481, et seq.), and other laws applicable to procurement by public bodies;

WHEREAS, the Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education joined the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (“PARCC”) and committed to purchase PARCC’s assessment product before the product was even developed and to utilize its Common Core aligned assessment product and adopt them into its accountability and teacher evaluation systems, without giving due consideration to the development of other comparable assessment products and thereby failing to undertake a transparent, competitive process;

WHEREAS, pursuant to La. R.S. 39:1708, the Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education are prohibited from entering into a cooperative purchasing agreement for the purpose of circumventing the laws governing procurement;

 WHEREAS, participation in PARCC does not exempt the Department of Education or the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from following other Louisiana laws, promulgated rules, or Executive Orders applicable to the procurement of goods and services by purchase, contract, or by cooperative endeavor;

 WHEREAS, the chief procurement officer of the state has authority, pursuant to La. R.S. 39:1597, to determine that only one source is available to provide a required item. However, the determination that PARCC is the sole source of assessment products appears to be precluded in this case, as there are a number of potential competitors with assessment products available for review and comparison, making the use of a transparent, competitive process possible;

 WHEREAS, Louisiana Revised Statute 39:1497 requires that the director of the office of contractual review determine that all professional, personal, consulting, or social services have complied with the procedures set forth in La. R.S. 39:1481, et seq.;

WHEREAS, in accordance with La. R.S. 39:1596, Executive Order BJ 2010-16 establishes procedures for the procurement of small purchases not exceeding twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) as exempt from the competitive sealed bidding requirements of the Louisiana Procurement Code, with purchases exceeding that amount requiring competitive sealed bidding and adequate prior notice;

 WHEREAS, the Legislature, during the 2014 Regular Session, has appropriated approximately $20,000,000 for the Department of Education to purchase these assessments for the 2014-2015 fiscal year commencing on July 1, 2014, and the expenditure of such a large amount of taxpayer-funded public funds clearly carries with it the responsibility that a transparent and competitive process be utilized.

 NOW THEREFORE, I, BOBBY JINDAL, Governor of the State of Louisiana, by virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution and laws of the State of Louisiana, do hereby order and direct as follows:

 SECTION 1:  The Department of Education and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education are directed to undertake a transparent, competitive procurement process in accordance with Louisiana law to obtain academic assessments for Louisiana’s schoolchildren.

 SECTION 2:  The Division of Administration is directed to conduct a comprehensive accounting of all Louisiana expenditures and resources related to PARCC, what services and products have been received in return for such expenditures, and copies of all contracts or other agreements in place or in negotiation for the purchase of an assessment.  The Division of Administration is further directed to ensure the Department of Education and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education’s compliance with Louisiana law in the procurement of academic assessments for the 2014-2015 school year and subsequent years.

 SECTION 3:  All departments, commissions, boards, agencies, and officers of the state of Louisiana, or any political subdivision thereof, are authorized and directed to cooperate in implementing the provisions of this Order.

 SECTION 4:  This Order is effective upon signature and shall continue in effect until amended, modified, terminated, or rescinded by the governor, or terminated by operation of law.

 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand officially and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of Louisiana, at the Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 18th day of June, 2014.

 /s/ Bobby Jindal______________

GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA

 ATTEST BY

THE GOVERNOR

 /s/ Tom Schedler_________

SECRETARY OF STATE

[Emphasis added.]

 

The second executive order above poses two issues for White: First, he must produce that PARCC MOU for PARCC purchase that he told the House Appropriations Committee doesn’t exist. (Either he secretly signed an agreement that he is not willing to publicize– which was the case with with inBloom— or he has no contract to tie Louisiana to purchasing PARCC.

Another issue is that White’s PARCC spending will be audited. On April 8, 2014, White told the House Appropriations Committee that the state education budget was $55 million short. It is time for White to produce a detailed accounting of his LDOE spending. Starting with PARCC is just fine.

Jindal Tells PARCC Consortium Louisiana is Out of PARCC and CCSS

The third and final document I will reproduce here is Jindal’s letter to the PARCC consortium. In it, he notes that he has contacted CCSS “owners,” the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CSSO) that he has withdrawn Louisiana from CCSS:

June 18, 2014

Dear Commissioner Chester,

 This letter is to request that the Partnership of Assessments for College and Career Readiness (PARCC) immediately withdraw from the State of Louisiana. The State of Louisiana is no longer committed to implementing the PARCC assessment in the 2014-15 school year, rendering it unable to comply with the terms of the June 2010 Memorandum of Understanding between the State and PARCC. In addition, several changes have occurred since the MOU was signed that make Louisiana’s membership in conflict with Louisiana law.

 First, PARCC’s Cooperative Agreement with the United States Department of Education (USDOE) includes terms that would remove Louisiana’s control over its assessments, and thereby its curriculum and pedagogy. While PARCC has assured states that curriculum is a local matter, the reality is what is assessed is what is taught and PARCC has a funding agreement with USDOE for $186 million. Laws enacted during the 2014 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature specifically authorize local education agencies to develop curriculum, content and methodology in lieu of any curriculum developed by the state board and prohibit the sharing of identifiable student information.

Second, there are several other vendors who have entered the market and who are now offering comparable assessment products at potentially lower cost and with greater input from, and accountability to, the individual states who hired them. Louisiana law requires the state to choose the lowest cost responsive bidder and to maintain control of the contract through which state taxpayer dollars will be expended. Neither of these criteria is met under the contracting arrangement of PARCC through a Fiscal Agent and/or Lead Procurement State.

 Third, several of the RFPs (requests for proposal) issued on behalf of PARCC were done so by other states, without the opportunity for Louisiana to ensure that these processes were handled in a method that complies with Louisiana’s competitive bid law. Louisiana’s MOU with PARCC and PARCC’s Cooperation Agreement with USDOE require PARCC to utilize competitive bid processes that comply with the laws of each member state and federal law.

Fourth, strict compliance with the MOU will prevent Louisiana from observing its competitive bid law for the procurement of the assessment itself. Louisiana law prohibits public procurement units from entering into cooperative purchasing agreements “for the purpose of circumventing” the Procurement Code (La. R.S. 39:1708). The MOU states specifically that each Governing State must agree to use the PARCC tests and to adopt them into its accountability and teacher evaluation systems, which is against Louisiana law if done without a competitive process. Louisiana cannot be a member of a cooperative purchasing agreement that requires, as a condition of membership, it buy the agreement’s product, especially before the product was even developed, and at an unknown cost at the time of execution.

Therefore, I have taken the following actions to ensure that Louisiana maintains control of its assessments and complies with its own laws:

 1. I have issued an executive order that instructs the Louisiana Department of Education to conduct a competitive process to purchase a new assessment and which prohibits the expenditure of funds on cooperative group purchasing organizations and interstate agreements.

 2. I have suspended the rules adopted by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education from May 2014 to ensure that the Louisiana Department of Education is able to comply with Louisiana competitive bid law;

 3. I have instructed the Louisiana Division of Administration to conduct a comprehensive accounting of all Louisiana expenditures and resources on PARCC, what services or products have been received in return for such expenditures, and copies of all contracts in place or in negotiation for the purchase of an assessment.

4. I have issued a Request for Information to PARCC requesting information about the procurement processes utilized by the consortium, by the Fiscal Agent state, and by the Lead Procurement State to ensure that these processes complied with Louisiana law.

 5. I have notified the Council for Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governor’s Association (NGA) of Louisiana’s termination of participation in the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

I will pursue cancellation of this MOU through all means necessary.

Sincerely,

Bobby Jindal

Governor

[Emphasis added.]

The curiosity here is that Jindal refers to a PARCC MOU signed in 2010 and that obligates Louisiana to purchase PARCC. Within his first month as state superintendent, White signed the PARCC MOU in place of outgoing superintendent Pastorek. However, we’re back to the issue of whether or not the PARCC MOU was an agreement to pilot or to purchase PARCC. However, Jindal has stated that he removed Louisiana from CCSS, and PARCC is tied to CCSS. Also, Jindal notes that in the competitive bidding process for assessments’ he is restricting the search to assessment companies not associated with consortia.

Closing Thoughts

So, what we have is Jindal serious about removing Louisiana from both CCSS and PARCC and White stating that Louisiana will remain in both CCSS and PARCC.

Which is it?

It appears that Jindal has solid legal footing for nixing PARCC assessments in Louisiana. I also think White is in a corner with both having to produce a PARCC MOU requiring purchase of PARCC (which he told the House Appropriations is not the case) and, especially, White’s being audited over PARCC spending.

As for canceling CCSS, Jindal is the only remaining signator on the CCSS MOU signed with NGA and CCSSO (Pastorek was the other signator). So, it seems that Jindal can remove us from CCSS. BESE did vote to approve CCSS in 2010. And that leads to another interesting situation:

BESE is in the middle of this “Jindal vs. White” altercation.

BESE President Chas Roemer supports White, and the majority of the eleven BESE members have supported CCSS. However, that majority is as shaky as it has been since the last BESE election over two years ago. Jindal has three appointees on the BESE board; two have supported CCSS, and Jindal could ask them to resign (he can’t require it). Given recent developments, we’ll see which way those two Jindal appointees supporting CCSS will go. One of his appointees, Jane Smith, is opposed to CCSS. Also on the BESE board are Lottie Beebe and Carolyn Hill, both against CCSS. And there is Walter Lee, indicted in January 2014 on felony theft and other charges and who is known to be unpredictable in his BESE positions.

In short, it is possible that a BESE majority could vote out CCSS– or even White.

In a twist, former state superintendent Paul Pastorek has decided to return to Louisiana ostensibly to start an education company. However, the timing is suspicious. Pastorek is a CCSS supporter (he and Jindal signed Louisiana on for CCSS in May 2009) and a Jeb Bush Chief for Change.

It is possible that Pastorek has returned to be the backup plan for White’s departure for those wishing to keep CCSS.

Keep in mind that business and industry are pushing for CCSS. So are scores of organizations that have received CCSS funding from the Gates Foundation. So, the pressure will continue to be on Jindal–and of course, it will also come from US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The entire nation is watching Louisiana.

It promises to be an interesting summer– especially for curriculum and assessment directors statewide.

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