Things are pretty quiet on the election front right now, but there is a race for Secretary of State on the statewide ballot and a lot of school board and other local races. And yes, there are also six constitutional amendments for voters to decide. CABL will be making its recommendations on amendments in the […]

Sometime this fall Louisiana’s school letter grades will be coming out and for some schools the results might be a shocker. That’s because in many cases it’s likely that scores will go down. But it’s important to understand that, in this case, it might not be as bad as it seems. Most people would tend […]

There are some who suggest that a school that has a high number of economically disadvantaged students can’t be an academically high-performing school. Implicit in their message is that “poor kids can’t learn.” As a new school year begins it’s important to remind ourselves that that view is wrong. This year, CABL has spent a […]

It’s great news that the parents of about 4,500 children who have been on a waiting list to receive financial assistance for child care will be rolling off that list. But it highlights an issue which deserves far more attention in Louisiana than it’s been receiving. Louisiana’s Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP, does what […]

The third special session of the year is over, a deal was finally struck, and theoretically Louisiana’s ongoing budget uncertainty has been settled for at least the next seven years. Given the drama of the last several months, that’s good news, but what are the takeaways from the long, drawn out process Louisiana has been […]

The third special session of 2018 is about to begin. One thing that can be said is that lawmakers have been here before and they know the issues. Our hope is that this time they will find compromise. Toward that end CABL supports renewal of one-half-cent of the expiring state sales tax in the general […]

It is hard to know just what to say about the second special session this year that crashed without addressing the state’s very real and looming fiscal problems. By any measure it was a disappointment and the blame game is still ongoing. That’s probably to be expected, but at this point it gets us nowhere. […]

As the clock continues to tick down on this special session, lawmakers get in a rush. With tensions already high, pressure builds, the deadline looms, and that’s when unfortunate things can happen. This time, we hope they won’t. The budget issues and revenue options that legislators have been considering during the special session haven’t really […]

In the “Here We Go Again” department, another special session to address the state’s budget issues is getting underway and the outcome seems anything but certain. Everyone knows the issues, everyone knows the options, and everyone knows they are now facing a real deadline. The question is what will actually make this one any different […]

Once again you are in the midst of a regular session where you are grappling with budget issues that have consumed our state for most of the last ten years. This time you are considering a budget with a level of cuts which you probably won’t even pass, coming on the heels of a special […]