This year there are eight constitutional amendments on the November 8 ballot. Some are a bit complicated, and all require a little homework before you cast your vote. To assist, we’re breaking the list into bite-size chunks. Leading up to the start of early voting on October 25, we will highlight one amendment every few […]

This fall there are 11 constitutional amendments on the ballot for voters to decide. It’s not a record, by any means, but it is still well above what we usually see. Eight will be decided on the November 8 ballot, and three others come up on December 10. As always, these amendments are something we […]

The Louisiana Legislative Auditor has released a report looking at the state’s current and future ability to pay for its transportation needs. While the findings don’t tell us much that we don’t already know – that the revenues we have are insufficient – it’s another wakeup call to remind us that despite a recent influx […]

This week the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met for three days. While they talked about a lot of things, there was a particular focus on various aspects of early learning. Though some of the discussion generated controversy, it’s good this area of education is getting the attention it needs. A significant part of […]

Once again, we got some bad news about the reading proficiency of young students in Louisiana. Since the pandemic, the number of third graders struggling to read has risen precipitously. Today, 41% of them are not reading at grade level, according to the most recent LEAP scores. While not surprising, given the disruptions caused by […]

Louisiana’s latest round of LEAP scores are in and they come with a bit of good news and a reality check that is hard to ignore. Generally, students rebounded slightly from the COVID-related drop that occurred in 2021, but they are still behind their performance levels before the pandemic. The good news out of the […]

It didn’t get a lot of attention, but last week the Biden administration announced plans to open more than 700,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico to commercial offshore windfarms. The area being targeted is in federal waters off Lake Charles and Galveston. While it’s just the beginning of a very long process, it could […]

We recently spotlighted Louisiana’s challenges with teacher shortages and some of the things the Legislature did this year to address the problem. It’s a major issue and CABL recently had the opportunity to dig into it a little deeper in a new podcast from the state Department of Education that is actually both fun and […]

Like almost every other state in the country, Louisiana is facing a critical shortage of teachers. It was happening before the pandemic, but the impact of COVID 19 on schools has only made things worse. This year the Louisiana Legislature took some initial steps to try to address the problem, but this is an issue […]

This year’s legislative session was never billed as an “education” session, as sometimes happens. But as it turns out it was a big one for public education at all levels, especially when it comes to new investments in students and educators. There were more than 170 bills introduced on education this year, more than 10% […]