Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA) holds a press briefing on a series of education bills.
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NewsTranscript
00:00What a treat. Good morning, Father DeBlanc. So great to see you, St.
00:04Martinsville native. See, the good Lord sent an angel to help me. Um, you
00:11know, I first want to say thank you again to the people of this great
00:17state. Uh, we we continue to be humbled by the fact that they gave us an
00:22opportunity to govern the state over the next four years. I also want to
00:27say thank you to the staff that work so hard with the legislators. And I
00:34want to thank the legislators as well. Uh, we have gone through a lot over
00:40the last six months, and we have done a lot. But it's been in response to the
00:46great outpouring of support and commitment that we have gotten from the
00:49people of this state. Without the people who make the calls, without the
00:55people who explained to the legislators, without the people who
00:58continue to have the resolve to understand that this state deserves the
01:03government as good as them, we would not be here today. So again, I want to
01:06thank the legislators, the staff and the people of the state.
01:14Today, we fulfill our promise to bring drastic reform to our educational
01:20system and bring common sense back to our classroom. A strong education system
01:27leads to a strong economy in a strong state. This historic dream big package
01:36puts focus back where it belongs, and that is on our Children. And it allows
01:42Louisiana to follow in the footsteps of the states in the south that have done
01:47the same and seen unbelievable results.
01:53You know, I think about where I am in a Catholic school, and that is where I
01:57started. Both Sharon and I started our education as Children as well, and we
02:04continued and I continue to watch throughout both my childhood through my
02:09educational system and growing up as an adult. How many people,
02:14regardless of their economic means, would make sacrifices in order to send
02:20their kids to schools just like this? And today we say that guess what? Their
02:25tax paying money is just as good here as it is anywhere else in the state.
02:31The foundation of a good education comes down to teaching the basics,
02:44reading, writing, math, and history. You know, Louisiana spends more per student
02:52than Mississippi, Florida, and Texas, and even more than Alabama. But yet our kids
03:01are not getting the quality of education that they deserve, and those
03:06states are doing a better job.
03:0920 years ago, the state of Florida's educational system was no better than
03:16where we are today, and last year they were ranked number one.
03:22So they need to look out because today we start our journey towards getting to
03:28number one.
03:31The steps that we took was simple.
03:39One, give help to Children today, Children who have fallen behind with
03:46immediate high dosage tutoring in both literacy and math. Step to mandate what
03:55our Children are taught and make sure it aligns with what they need to know to be
04:01successful in the workplace.
04:05Three, give all parents control over their Children's education by giving
04:12them not just a choice, but the opportunity in the form of education
04:19scholarship accounts. And four,
04:23treat our teachers like professionals by rewarding those who take on tougher
04:31curriculums or teach in tougher schools and reward those teachers who perform
04:39with excellence.
04:41We removed the barriers like government mandates that waste teachers time and
04:48take their focus off the classroom. That was a promise I made to the
04:53teachers of the state on the campaign trail, and today we signed a bill that
04:58lets the teachers teach.
05:05And so I know you believe in our kids, and we should trust parents, too,
05:11because today we start to match our actions with our beliefs and our
05:17historic dream big package. So what we'll do is, um, I'll sit here. The
05:22legislators can all come up behind me. We'll call each one of the legislators
05:28up to sit right next to me as we sign their bills. And in the end, we've saved
05:33the last, I think, the big bills, the big two important bills that they've
05:38worked so hard for, um, on the end. But again, this entire package is part and
05:45parcel of educational reform. And like I said, like the last two bills, maybe,
05:51um, uh, the flashpoints. But all of the bills that will sign up until up till
05:57then are just as important as those two bills as well. All right, so we'll
06:02begin.
06:16Yeah,
06:19Edmunds.
06:22Oh,
06:27you haven't been that organized.
06:30All right. So the first bill is a representative Edmondson, which
06:36prohibits any requirement for individuals to receive COVID-19
06:40vaccines as a condition of initial enrollment and continue attendance into
06:44public and non public schools. You know, we saw a lot of anxiety amongst
06:49parents during, um, the last pandemic, and I am proud of this legislature
06:56because they have responded
06:59to request of parents consistently to make sure that we don't have that type
07:04of anxiety while we're in the middle of a pandemic. And Kathy's bill puts us in
07:10that position.
07:15Yeah.
07:24And, of course, Kathy's been busy. She's got another one
07:28again on immunizations, which mandates the communication about student
07:33immunization requirements
07:35that must include information on the exemption. Yeah, when we send home
07:41information when schools send home information about required vaccinations,
07:46that's any vaccination we have in statute the ability for a parent to up
07:52their child out. We've had that for. I don't know. I was trying to find out
07:57this morning years, but parents don't know it. Schools don't know it. Dr
08:02Brumley, because we didn't know it, put it in bulletin 7 41 preempted this by
08:07doing that. Governor Landry was was for this bill. That made a big
08:12difference. This bill actually passed. It went into veto override by two votes
08:18was not overridden. So we've been working hard to get this past, and I
08:23see many people in the audience, parents all over the state. This is
08:29very important to them. So thank you so much for signing for
08:38Yeah,
08:41all right, Representative comedy.
08:52And this bill is another response to issues we had during the pandemic,
08:59which prohibits teachers and school employees and administrators from
09:02discriminating against students based upon their vaccination status.
09:08Because the school's not a place for any discrimination, right, Padre?
09:14All right.
09:31All right, and then Representative Chris Turner.
09:35Yeah,
09:37Chris.
09:47Now this bill
09:50creates that this is big for hiring, right? That
09:56establishes a program to address deferred maintenance and capital
09:59improvements in our university. You know, one of the most frustrating
10:02things that we hear is that we just don't seem to have any order in the
10:08way that we conduct our business in this state. And in order to make sure
10:14that our universities are kept up and that the maintenance in the buildings
10:21are kept up, there was really no
10:25system for them to do so. They would come. The legislature would say, I
10:28want you to fix this building, or we'll say we'll fix this building, and
10:31there was no order. So today we signed a bill that starts to put in place
10:34some order for that, right, Chris?
10:36All right.
10:53And then Raymond Cruz.
11:01Oh, he's so lucky.
11:22So
11:24we have House Bill 121, which mandates that public schools in Louisiana may
11:30not adopt policies that require the use of names and pronouns of students
11:34and employees that are inconsistent with their God-given sex, as listed on
11:42their original birth certificate. And employees cannot be compelled to use
11:45such names and pronouns nor identify their own pronouns against their will.
11:50So I think the bishop would appreciate this as well. God gives us,
11:56you know, our mark and we get to keep it all the way until we hopefully make
12:02it to heaven, right? I'll see you after for confession.
12:10All right.
12:11Now this is a big bill.
12:12This is great.
12:21Okay.
12:22All right.
12:22So let's see.
12:24Oh, Doty.
12:26Doty.
12:31Yeah.
12:31122.
12:32Yes, sir.
12:33This is let kids be kids.
12:35No indoctrination in Louisiana.
12:37How you like that?
12:38I love it.
12:39This, this bill bans public school personnel from discussing sexual
12:43orientation of gender identity with students in grades K through 12,
12:47except as aligned with the state standards and it permits students to
12:52seek guidance on these topics outside of class hours with parental consent.
13:04We're blessed to have a governor that supports common sense.
13:07Thank you.
13:09We're blessed to have a legislature.
13:12All right,
13:14Senator Miguez.
13:22There you go.
13:23Good, good.
13:24Good.
13:24So this bill mandates additional compensation for teachers and other
13:27school employees for overtime work work beyond prescribed duties and
13:33misplanning times.
13:34And it also requires the establishment of supplemental salary
13:37schedules.
13:38Oh, we got some teachers that want to come home.
13:41So governor, this is another one that the last governor could get done
13:44but I knew this governor could and this is a big thank you to all the
13:47educators out there bolded the minds of Louisiana's greatest asset our
13:51children and I want to give a big thank you to the Louisiana Association
13:53of Educators.
13:54They fought tirelessly and you were the governor to make this happen and
13:57it's very special moment for all of us today.
13:59All right.
14:22Thank you.
14:31All right.
14:34Representative Amity.
14:38And oh, it's Senator Abraham.
14:40We signed to these were two bills.
14:44These bills but between the one we signed today and the one I signed with
14:48Senator Abraham because he's not he's not here.
14:51All right.
14:51No, he's not here.
14:52He didn't authorizes Louisiana public school boards to employ or accept
14:58volunteer certified chaplains to provide support services.
15:03We got some chaplains here.
15:06Father Debra.
15:09Would you want to?
15:11There we go.
15:13We can put chaplains in school.
15:17You realize we need a lot of do that.
15:18That's terrible.
15:19Okay.
15:21So that's what this bill does to provide support services while specifying
15:25selection criteria background checks and liability limitations of you also
15:30prohibits the employment of chaplains who are registered on a sex offender
15:35this that's seem like a more common sense.
15:39But again, I think that this is a great step in in expanding faith in public
15:46schools as well for those children that seek that.
15:51This doesn't replace school counselors.
15:59This is an extra resource for school counselors and where chaplains have
16:04been allowed in schools.
16:08We've seen that the behavior improves grades improve dropouts decline teen
16:15pregnancies decline people graduate more suicidal rates goes down.
16:21So I'm looking forward to good results.
16:34Okay, Senator McMaster and Kim car.
16:46Hey, he's getting the sun.
16:49We get the fun.
16:51All right.
16:53This is Senate bill 508 by Senator McMaster and it was it was carried on
16:58the outside by representative Kim Carver.
17:00It ensures that every school district provide high dosage tutoring in
17:05literacy math for students that are below the grade level.
17:08So again, this was part of the big package day.
17:11We got reset.
17:13We were going to get the money to the children in high doses tutoring
17:16right away.
17:26Okay.
17:37She's great.
17:38You to chair to you and Rick.
17:40Yes.
17:41Yeah, I'm gonna tell you but the two chairman of education.
17:45They've had the roughest time.
17:46It really happened.
17:47They've just been great though.
17:49Okay.
17:49So this is this renames the Steve Carter literacy program to the serve
17:59Carter education program expanding its scope to include the support of
18:03mathematics and additional literacy and eligibility for public school
18:07students, right?
18:07Yes.
18:09Yeah, we need to improve math as well.
18:11Yeah, very important.
18:13You got to know how to count.
18:18All right.
18:25Representative Dickerson.
18:29Oh, no, Carter.
18:30Oh, I'm sorry.
18:31Kim.
18:32One more.
18:33There we go.
18:35House bill 267 develops a K through 3rd grade universal math screener
18:42similar to the newly created literacy screamer screener to focus on
18:46foundational math skills and provide teachers and parents with real-time
18:50information on student performance.
18:54Back on that.
18:56We're going back to math.
19:02Okay, representative Dickerson.
19:20Absolutely.
19:22Come on.
19:23Oh, we got some kids.
19:24Oh, that is great.
19:26Oh, yeah.
19:26Yeah.
19:27Yeah.
19:29Absolutely.
19:29How are y'all doing?
19:32Oh my word.
19:33Look at this.
19:35All right.
19:35Okay.
19:37Okay.
19:43I believe them.
19:47All right.
19:49And I want to thank Paula Roberts, Senator Hodges and representative
19:53Amity who helped me so much.
19:55We modeled this after the Tim Tebow rule that children should really
20:01have a chance to participate in school activities and then get back on
20:06some of the levels.
20:06This is for homeschool.
20:09These are for children who are homeschooled so that they get to
20:11participate in extracurricular activities.
20:14Wow.
20:15Love it.
20:16And look all y'all get a pen before y'all leave.
20:20Y'all see this down to get y'all.
20:25All right.
20:31Thank you so much.
20:41Right.
20:42We got enough, right?
20:44Okay.
20:47Representative rise.
20:58The kids can stay.
21:01Kelly of those kids want to stay up here.
21:03They welcomed you.
21:07They welcome to come back up.
21:09We want them to come back up.
21:11All right.
21:11So this is teacher retirement.
21:15It was a house bill 967 by representative Neil Reiser.
21:22And Danny McCormick that amends provisions related to the
21:25reemployment of retired teachers because we've got a critical shortage
21:31of teachers allowing for both full-time and part-time
21:34reemployment without a suspension or reduction of benefits.
21:38So this is a common sense right here.
21:41Some of those great teachers back in the system.
21:53Okay, representative Romero.
22:01All right, hospital 647 mandates at the Louisiana Department of
22:09Education maintain a list of student instructional requirements
22:13excluding those covered by state content standards or the corner
22:18units.
22:19So primarily what the bill does is it's going to mandate LDOE to
22:26give us a list of the mandates that we are there put on teachers
22:29now.
22:30This is part of your let teachers teach package, right?
22:32Oh, this is all about you.
22:39From now on once you sign this bill teacher the legislature will
22:44not be able to put a mandate on teachers or educators without
22:47taking one of equal value away.
22:49How about that?
22:56That's right.
22:59This is a great deal.
23:05Okay, and we are getting towards the end.
23:11Representative Phelps.
23:21All right, this bill mandates that all public schools in Louisiana
23:27adopt a uniform 10-point grading scale and repeals the requirement
23:33of the state of Vesey to implement such a scale.
23:37So we're going to temple.
23:38This is going to increase the graduation rates.
23:41This is going to increase the lower remediation rates and save
23:46the taxpayers tons of money.
23:49It's going to make the kids succeed and everybody will be on
23:52the same playing field as 45 other states.
23:55Oh, this is perfect.
23:56And I'll be able to tell exactly what my child's grades are
24:00now exact without a calculator.
24:02There you go.
24:08Thank you.
24:10All right.
24:11Okay.
24:14Chuck Chuck over here.
24:17Senator Bass you stepping in this.
24:19Oh, yeah.
24:19This is where's your wife?
24:22She's right over here.
24:23You come over here.
24:27You're going to have to teach me how to do this.
24:31I can do it because I'm not married.
24:38All right.
24:38Now look, this is an important bill because this is complimented
24:43about the bill that we just signed a little while earlier because
24:48what we have seen is too many mandates too many regulations
24:54and hours that teachers are spending that don't get them in
24:59the classroom concentrating on kids and this this bill is
25:04called the let the teachers teach bill and it empowers Bessie
25:10to create rules for including specific topics in student
25:14instruction and staff training.
25:16And our hope is that we start to remove the burdens that have
25:20been placed on the shoulders of teachers to be the babysitters
25:24social workers because we can get social workers, but we need
25:27them in the schools, but we want them educating these children,
25:30right?
25:31All right.
25:37And this was important to Senator Bass because his wife is a
25:40school teacher and he hears about this all the time and he wasn't
25:45going to be able to go back home until he passed.
25:47Let's let him teach.
25:48That's right.
25:54All right, that brings us.
25:58Whoa, Senator Bass of Dodie.
26:01You get Dodie Hardin stand right behind her.
26:07This is one of my favorites too.
26:14Oh, we got some passes.
26:15Oh, you won't come back.
26:20Anybody.
26:22This is gonna be a great.
26:24Yeah, I see it.
26:34All right.
26:40This is one of the bills.
26:41I got the press over here.
26:44I think so.
26:46This bill mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in every
26:51classroom in public elementary secondary and post-education
26:55schools in the state of Louisiana.
27:05Because if you want to respect the rule of law, you got to
27:08start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.
27:12Amen.
27:13All right.
27:16That's right.
27:17He got his he got his commandments from God.
27:20All right.
27:22We're so blessed to have a governor.
27:24It was no guesswork.
27:25We knew we got it to him.
27:26He would sign it and what a great day it is in Louisiana
27:29have a governor who supports traditional values our families
27:33are I just can't thank you enough governor.
27:36It's just after serving eight years prior to you.
27:39It's like hope is in the air everywhere.
27:42Well, I think it's important, you know, as I served as a
27:45member of the United States House of Representatives and
27:48Congress and if you have ever been lucky enough to travel to
27:52Washington DC and go into the House chamber, there are faces
27:58of people who have made great contributions to Western civilization
28:05and all of those faces are half face except for one.
28:09There is one face under which you see the full face of the
28:13person and that person and that and that and that person's face
28:18sits dead center above where the speaker sits.
28:22Y'all want to guess who that is?
28:24Moses.
28:33All right, Rick and Julie.
28:38Where's you?
28:43I'm telling you.
28:44Okay, we got these and we got.
29:01This is the ESA bill.
29:03This is what we here for.
29:06All of the work.
29:10All right.
29:12This this bill that we're going to sign.
29:15I got to tell you that legislators behind here.
29:18Worked extremely hard.
29:21And while some people thought that we could not get this done.
29:27We all believe that we could and and because we don't quit.
29:33We don't have any punters on our team in Louisiana.
29:36And this bill will establish the education scholarship.
29:43That this state so desperately needs.
29:47It proposes the creation of Louisiana giving all to true
29:51opportunity to rise, which is the Louisiana Gator scholarships.
29:54That's why you see the kids with their great alligator beads and
29:59the chairman.
30:00You got one.
30:04We're going to throw those out for Mardi Gras this year.
30:08I want to recognize though.
30:11Mary Beth Hughes with lobby.
30:14Kelly Bodger with Louisiana kids matter Lily Landry with yes,
30:21every kid representative Schlegel who's a chair of the
30:26House Education Committee.
30:30Our good chair of the Senate Education Committee Rick Edmonds
30:34representative Julie Edmondson, who has been working on this
30:37for a long time as well.
30:40The Bessie members superintendent Kate Brumley Scott
30:44Simon with AFP AFP was just phenomenal.
30:50They helped us put on some town halls around the state.
30:53I want to thank the New Orleans Catholic School superintendent.
30:58Dr.
30:58Raynell Houston, Daniel Espera with the Pelican Institute and
31:04Melissa Landry with a scholarships as you can see,
31:08this was a concerted team effort
31:12by not only the legislators but all of those Association and
31:16all of the parents that wanted an opportunity
31:21to see their child have a quality education and to be able
31:25to control their tax dollars.
31:28I think that this is a responsible bill that starts
31:32first
31:34with parents with children
31:37who have special needs
31:40and then we work our way up the income ladder
31:43and eventually this program
31:46will be
31:48accepted by
31:49every parent in this state will have an opportunity
31:53if they want to send their child to school other than the
31:56public school in their district.
31:58So Rick, thank you so very much.
31:59Thank you.
32:00Want to say something?
32:00I do.
32:01I do.
32:06When Governor Landry says dream big,
32:08he means dream big
32:10and I want to say for all of our children.
32:12That's something that most of us were brought up.
32:14I'm a Louisiana boy
32:16and my greatest teacher, although she wasn't a school
32:19teacher was my mom.
32:20That parent makes the difference.
32:22My life has never been the same because of that
32:25and I want to say to you today for I want you to know a
32:28little backdrop about our governor.
32:31We believe this bill already nationally has put us the best
32:34ESA bill in the country
32:37this year to pass and we believe it's already in the top
32:40five
32:42in the United States already from the launch.
32:45So
32:51this is the hardest thing that I've done in nine years of
32:53legislative work.
32:55I was beat down one night and
32:58tired and
32:59I don't usually give up very easy, but I was just about
33:02done
33:04and the staff could attribute to that and so could all these
33:07folks that are here.
33:08I just run out of steam governor
33:10about 830 one night.
33:12I keep this thing.
33:12Unfortunately close to me too close and I saw Jeff Landry
33:17pop up at about 830 at night.
33:20Your governor
33:21called a lowly legislator had no idea of where I was at that
33:24moment and said
33:26can't give up how we got this
33:28you got it.
33:29We got this
33:31and that little breath of fresh air
33:33was what I needed that night from a governor that cared
33:36enough about the people of Louisiana and our children and
33:39parents to be able to call a weak chairman
33:42on an 830 night when he had plenty of other things to do
33:45and to help us make sure we get this done.
33:47So governor
33:49not only is it about legislators and all the rest,
33:51but this is about governor Landry as well.
33:53That's a dream big governor that we're grateful to have in
33:56our state.
33:57We're honored and blessed.
34:09Because he always says the exact thing that I'm thinking
34:12but like this bill is a game-changer for our students
34:15incredibly happy to partner with Rick with the governor
34:18with all these amazing people to help get this across the
34:21finish line.
34:22This is going to improve our education in Louisiana and
34:24every child learns differently and this is going to give them
34:27the ability to really focus on how they learn and give parents
34:30the ultimate choice.
34:31So thank you all for your help.
34:32Thank you governor.
34:33Appreciate everything.
34:40And I and I think that would would Rick
34:44just and Julie both walk to you.
34:46I hope shows the citizens in his state the dedication that
34:50our legislators have towards making this state as great as
34:53they are.
34:54They have worked tirelessly
34:57on these and we still have a lot to do but I tell people
35:00don't worry.
35:00We're just in the first quarter.
35:02That's right.
35:03All right.
35:03Here we go, Rick.
35:09I
35:40probably shouldn't say it.
35:41I had to beg Lori to take that job.
35:45Me and the speaker worked on.
35:50Where's Kelly?
35:52She's not it.
35:52Oh, there you go.
35:54Dre
35:56Scott
36:01I'm bad for the state of Louisiana Scott.
36:02We will thank you.
36:09Let's see.
36:11Mary Beth.
36:12Maybe
36:13come on Mary Beth.
36:17I know this has been something y'all been working on for a
36:19long time.
36:21Thank you.
36:23Let's see.
36:25Kate's not here.
36:27Kate said what's Kate?
36:28Oh, there you are.
36:29Kate.
36:30He's so quiet today.
36:33Here we go.
36:34How about a round of applause?
36:35I should put that.
36:36Come on.
36:39He's another one that I would call late at night and say you
36:44need to go down to the Senate at 7 a.m.
36:50Thank you.
36:51Okay.
36:52Let's see.
36:55Daniel
36:58there you go.
37:10Wait.
37:12With the Diocese
37:14Tom.
37:15Oh, there we go.
37:16We got somebody with the die.
37:18Well, and we got the bishop you to do right.
37:23That's okay.
37:30Thank you so much.
37:31Thank you.
37:33Okay.
37:35All right, and we got one more.
37:38Andre, we gonna give this one to you.
37:47She worked through the flu.
37:48We almost had to call her out in the ambulance.
37:51The bill almost literally killed her.
37:54She got it done.
37:55Well, listen, thank you so very much.
37:58I really want to thank everyone.
37:59I want to thank Fatima for giving us an opportunity to
38:01host this year.
38:02We want again
38:04in
38:05both on behalf of myself and the First Lady and these
38:08legislators
38:09want to thank the people of this great state
38:11for entrusting us
38:13with governing
38:14and making this state just a great state.
38:16We've got a lot more to do and
38:18I just can't wait.
38:19So thank you so very much.