Please email Mayor Cantrell and legislative officials on TODAY's vote and tell them to amend Senate Bill 110 to remove New Orleans Schools or to support referring the bill to House Education Committee for further debate.

• Senate Bill 110 allows the City of New Orleans to increase their administrative cost for collecting taxes from 2% up to 4%. The bill has already cleared the Senate and will be considered for adoption by the Louisiana House of Representatives today, May 23rd.  

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If this legislation passes without amending OPSB out of the bill, schools would lose $3.2 million ($75.00) per student, while doubling the city’s collection to $6.4 million.

The City of New Orleans has created this legislation to circumvent the Louisiana Supreme Court Ruling and Attorney General’s Office opinion that “local governments are not allowed to use property taxes for expenses not approved by voters”. 

We cannot allow millions of dollars designated by voters in support of classrooms to be used in fulfilling the city’s pension obligations!

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Commissioner Roger Goodell
National Football League 345 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10154

Dear Commissioner Goodell:
On behalf of the business and civic community of the New Orleans region, we are writing to you to express our deep disappointment with the handling of the NFC Championship game on Sunday.

Simply put, the ending of the game is being decried around the country as highway robbery: brazen, indefensible, and, some even speculate, deliberate.
The Saints players were robbed of an appearance at the Super Bowl. The Who Dat Nation’s fans were cheated of their commitment and money. New Orleans lost an invaluable economic and civic boost. America was deprived of a classic duel between the two greatest quarterbacks of our generation. And the NFL – a brand already under severe duress - was further robbed of its credibility.

There is no question that the no-call was an officiating crime. “Oh, hell yeah,” the Ram’s Robey- Coleman said upon being shown the play on a reporter’s phone. “That was P.I.”
And this pass interference was compounded by a second illegal act, a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit that sent the Saint’s Tommylee Lewis sprawling.
How did the NFL let this happen in such a crucial game?

First, inadequate rules. In a pass-happy NFL, pass interference is an increasingly consequential and high-impact call. No other penalty can change field position as dramatically.
Why, then, doesn’t the NFL allow pass interference to be reviewed, as the Canadian Football League has since 2014? And, given the league’s professed concern over player safety, why isn’t helmet-to-helmet targeting reviewable? It is in the NCAA.

Then, negligent oversight. Incredibly, three of the seven referees were from the Los Angeles market! (Zero were from New Orleans or even Louisiana.) At a minimum, the NFL should have seen the terrible optics of playing L.A. refs in an L.A. championship game. There is speculation now that Cavaletto – the ref who reached-for-but-didn’t-throw his flag – hesitated due to sub-conscious home-town bias, or worse. Maintaining rules which forbid real or perceived conflicts of interest amongst officiating crews should be a no-brainer.

Finally, there is the basic question of training and competence. How could the supposed best officials in the league be blind to what millions saw?

In total, the situation is so grossly unfair that a sportsbook in New Jersey is refunding bets on the Saints “due to the widespread belief that the team was victimized by a blown call by referees.” It says something when New Jersey bookies are acting more honorably than the NFL.
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The right thing for the NFL to do, of course, is to replay the game. As of this writing, over 700,000 fans across the country have signed a petition demanding a replay as the only fair solution. In fact, Rule 17, Section 2, Article 3 says that you can do exactly this, in “extraordinarily unfair” circumstances that have “a major effect on the result of the game.”
Of course, money and logistics dictate that there will be no replay. Rather, Super Bowl LIII will be forever known as “Super Bowl LIE.” But going forward, the NFL can make changes so that, in the words of Saints coach Sean Payton, “No other team ever has to lose like this.”

It is simple: the rules should be changed. Pass interference and targeting should be challengeable and reviewable. Further, any potential conflict of interest amongst officiating crews should be eliminated. Above all, Commissioner Roger Goodell should be held accountable to deliver a product of sporting excellence.

At the end of the day, if the NFL does not provide fairness and integrity, fans will lose interest, and it will die. New Orleans will be fine. We have come back from far, far worse. But will the NFL?

We look forward to hearing your response.

The business and civic community of the New Orleans region:

A portrait of Ruthie Frierson by artist Saegan Swanson of Where Y'Art, as commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune for its "300 for 300" celebration of New Orleans' tricentennial. (NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

By Contributing writer NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
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The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting 300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans, featuring original artwork commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune with Where Y'Art gallery.

Today: Ruthie Frierson.

The icon: Ruthie Frierson.
The legacy: Ruthie Frierson was always an enthusiastic New Orleanian, as a successful real estate agent and as a volunteer engaged in myriad causes to improve the city she loves. But Hurricane Katrina's devastation presented a challenge of a different magnitude. After seeing that a move to reform Louisiana's fractured network of levee boards was languishing in Baton Rouge, Frierson set up a group to make change happen. In addition to holding legislators' feet to the fire on that issue -- and pushing for one Orleans Parish assessor's office while they were at it -- Frierson's Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans embodied what would become a post-Katrina wave of activism, fighting the good fight and inspiring others to follow suit.
The artist: Saegan Swanson.
The quote: "I went from mourning to rage to hope through action. It brought a renewed sense of hope at a time of total despair." -- Ruthie Frierson, on her emotional journey after Hurricane Katrina

TRI-via

• The women in Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans adopted their own easy-to-spot brand: red blazers and, occasionally, scarves, accented with lapel buttons bearing the group's name and a big "1.".
• A lifelong New Orleanian, Frierson graduated from the Louise S. McGehee School and Newcomb College. She taught history at Riverdale High School for three years.
• She has been a real estate agent with Prudential Gardner Realtors.
• Her activity with Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans was part of a lifelong pattern of volunteering. For instance, when she was in high school, Frierson volunteered at Crippled Children's Hospital (now Children's Hospital) and visited the elderly with the Little Sisters of the Poor.
• As an adult, Frierson served on the boards of McGehee and Isidore Newman schools, the Metropolitan Council on Aging, Longue Vue House and Gardens, and the Hermann-Grima Historic House. She also led the Junior League, the Louisiana Nature and Science Center board and the New Orleans Town Gardeners.
• For organizing Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, Frierson received The Times-Picayune Loving Cup for 2006.
• Although the Legislature approved bills to reform the levee districts and consolidate the New Orleans assessorships, each change required a constitutional amendment that voters would have to approve. They did. The constitutional amendment to change the levee boards passed with 81 percent of the vote, and 78 percent of the voters approved the amendment to reduce the number of New Orleans' assessors.

By John Pope, contributing writer
Source: The Times-Picayune archives

The last big piece of the multibillion-dollar system built after Hurricane Katrina to protect the New Orleans area from flooding during a hurricane or other severe storm is in place, officials said Thursday, marking the end of construction on a set of enormous pumps that will empty the city's three main drainage canals into Lake Pontchartrain. ​


​Read the full story >

NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools (LAPCS) and seven Type 2 charter schools won a major victory today in the Louisiana State Supreme Court. The Justices upheld the constitutional rights of Type 2 charter schools to receive Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) funding and declared these schools are indeed public schools.
“Charter Schools have been in Louisiana for over 25 years and today’s ruling by the Louisiana Supreme Court confirms what we have know all along: charters are public schools,” said LAPCS Executive Director, Caroline Roemer. “This is a major victory for 16,000 students who have been caught in the middle of a political fight over dollars for more than three years and for all those who advocate for more education options for parents.”

Read full story >

State Superintendent John White, left, has overseen increases in ACT scores, graduation rates and other measures of achievement. (Brett Duke, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)

Opinion by Carol McCall
Much is written -- especially nationally -- about what is happening in education in Louisiana. We should be cheering for our students and teachers as we do for our athletes and their coaches.  By critically important measures, Louisiana has experienced and continues to experience major wins in education. 

For more than 20 years, the state has been moving for higher standards and accountability.  Now led by state Superintendent John White and his staff at the Department of Education, Louisiana has been nationally recognized for progress in a number of key areas.
Teacher preparation: Recognized by the Council of Chief State School Officers, Louisiana has built a collaboration between PreK-12 and higher education institutions for teacher preparation programs that include a year-long teacher internship program, to increase competence prior to entering the classroom.

Curriculum-driven reform: According to an article by national education policy journal Education Next, Louisiana's education administration "has quietly engineered a system of curriculum-driven reforms that have prompted Louisiana's public school teachers to change the quality of their instruction in measurable and observable ways." These advances are unmatched in other states.

High school graduation rate: In 2005, 54 percent of Louisiana students graduated from high school, and now that number has significantly increased to 77 percent. These results come amidst a five-year push by Louisiana's Department of Education to increase the number of graduates earning employer-validated "Jump Start" credentials and early college credits.
Advanced Placement scores: More than 6,500 Louisiana high school students earned college-credit qualifying scores on Advanced Placement (AP) exams in 2017.  Since 2012 this number has increased 137 percent.  Research shows students who succeed on AP exams are more likely to earn higher GPAs in college, take more classes in their discipline and graduate college on time.

ACT scores increase for fourth straight year: As a state, we have made measurable progress increasing the ACT scores of our students. The class of 2017 earned scores that boosted the state's average ACT score for the fourth straight year, now at 19.6.  Louisiana is one of only 17 states that require all high school students to participate in this important test.
CLEP test college credits increase: According to data from the College Board, Louisiana leads the nation in the College Level Examination Program (CLEP), with a 55 percent increase in the number of high school students earning college credit.  CLEP tests students' knowledge from outside the classroom.  It is especially useful for home schooled students and those with job experience. 

NAEP scores show highest growth in the country: In 2015, Louisiana fourth-graders showed the highest growth among all states in the United States on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test, and the second-highest growth scores nationally in math. 

Louisiana's Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan receives national acclaim: According to an independent review by national advocacy groups, Bellwether Education Partners and the Collaborative for Student Success, Louisiana's plan to comply with the federal ESSA (passed in 2015) presents a strong vision for students and sets high expectations. The Alliance for Excellent Education, published an analysis of the plan, calling it one of the "most promising" in the United States.

Progress in any field does not come without focus, collaboration and hard work. Louisiana teachers and students are proving they are up to the task and the challenge. 
But as a community, are we acknowledging these demonstrable and significant improvements?  Are we letting our teachers know we appreciate their hard work?  We need to be cheering them on! We need to celebrate Louisiana's education leaders, like John White, who have led the way -- and who work hard every day to keep us moving forward.

Carol McCall is chairwoman of the Education Committee for Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans.