LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: Nov. 4, 2018

By: Sheridan Wall and Charlotte Bellotte, LSU Manship News Service

Danielle Couturier, an elementary teacher in suburban New Orleans, gets to school at 7 a.m. and often works on lesson plans until 10 p.m. But the 15-hour days are not enough to make ends meet. She also teaches summer school for extra pay.

Couturier, who has a master’s degree and 16 years of experience, makes $46,000 a year. After the first of her three children was born, she had to waitress on the weekends to earn more money.

“We put our blood sweat and tears and our whole hearts into this,” she said. “I don’t feel valued. I never have. But I’m OK with that because that’s not why I do it.”

Teachers like Couturier have long been willing to accept being underpaid. But now many are saying enough of that.

‘Extreme bipartisan support’

Educators in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona reached a breaking point this year with a wave of walkouts and strikes over pay. And now, with teachers in Louisiana voicing concerns as well, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ top legislative priority is raising teacher pay by $1,800 to reach the average of just under $51,000 for Southern states.

Read more in the Daily Advertiser.

Published: Oct. 30, 2018

By: Trey Couvillion and Sarah Procopio, LSU Manship News Service

For Earlene Watts, walking to a farmers market with her 15-year-old son has become a weekend ritual. The LSU student and mother of four has visited the downtown Red Stick Farmers Market every week for seven years and counting, delighted that farmers there let her use state assistance to buy more nutritional food.

“We’re are able to shop for healthy items, and I am able to teach my kids how they can benefit from being healthy,” she said.

Watts is one of 1,300 people who use state food assistance to buy fresh produce and other products at farmers markets in Baton Rouge, thanks in part to grants that provide spending matches to increase their purchasing power.

But the program is far from universal: Only a few farmers markets in the state accept benefits from the Louisiana Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as payment, and some do not provide a dollar-for-dollar matching component like the one where Watts shops.

Farmers markets in Lafayette, Covington, Lake Charles and Hammond do not take the benefits, formerly known as food stamps, while all the vendors at markets in Delcambre, Ruston, Baton Rouge and New Orleans do. Other markets, like in Shreveport and Mandeville, fall somewhere in between, with only some of the vendors accepting the state benefits.

Read more in KATC News.

Published: Oct. 30, 2018

By: Abbie Shull and Madeline Reineke, LSU Manship News Service

Six of the nine candidates in the race attended the forum at LSU’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs. It was part of LSU’s Behind the Ballot symposium, a two-day event featuring a variety of panels on voting and the 2018 midterm elections.

Five of the six candidates for Louisiana Secretary of State found common ground in a forum Monday evening as they each tried to shake interim Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s perceived confidence in his incumbency.

There was little hostility between panelists since they were not allowed to address each other directly. But, a few managed to sneak in some indirect jabs with just over a week to go until the Nov. 6 election.

Rep. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, said he was displeased with Ardoin’s leadership as it relates to local election officials, like the registrars of voters and the clerks of court.

“I’ve met with many of them across the state, and I was surprised to ask them some very simple questions about the administration,” Edmonds said. “For example: ‘When was the last time the Secretary of State was in your office?’ And the answer I received numerous times was ‘never.’”

Read more in the Gonzales Weekly Citizen.

Published: Oct. 25, 2018

By: Jacqueline DeRobertis, LSU Manship News Service

BATON ROUGE — A new national survey finds that Democrats hold a 12-point lead over Republicans in 72 battleground districts that will decide control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections.

The survey, conducted by The Cook Political Report and LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication in collaboration with political consultant James Carville, indicates that Democrats lead Republicans 48-36 among registered voters in those districts.

‘Not like a slam dunk’

The survey also found that 42 percent of voters in the most competitive districts oppose President Trump or his policies, while 23 percent are voting to support the president.

Michael Henderson, the director of the Manship School’s Public Policy Lab, cautioned, however, that Democratic victories in many of the races are “not like a slam dunk.”

Which side turns out more of its supporters will be crucial. Other surveys show that the parties are running “neck to neck” in terms of the likelihood that their supporters will actually vote on Nov. 6, he said.

“The one thing we know about this election to almost a certainty is that the turnout is going to be a record high,” Carville said. “When that happens, some weird things can happen on election day.”

Read more in the Shreveport Times.

Abbie Shull and Jacqueline DeRobertis

Young people in Louisiana are asking themselves a key question: Should I stay or should I go?

Students, political figures and entrepreneurs from across the state gathered Tuesday at LSU’s Reilly Center for Media and Public Affairs for a symposium on re-envisioning Louisiana as a place that could keep more of its young talent from moving to states ranked more highly for economic and educational opportunities.

“I think if I had gone to those places that are fifth on the lists instead of 45th, I think my road ahead would be easier, but I also think it would be less impactful,” LSU sophomore Sarah Procopio said.

Procopio, a Baton Rouge native, explained that she would rather stay in her home state and fight for change.

Read more in The Advocate.

Jacqueline DeRobertis

Political scientist Michael Wagner believes that America is not as politically divided as it seems.

“Political division is normal,” he said Tuesday in a talk at LSU. “It’s not problematic that we disagree, but if we stop listening to each other, we are in real trouble.”

He explained that to most people, polarization means red versus blue or right versus left – but that the data tells a different story. While elected officials tend to be hyperpolarized, the public’s beliefs span a range of political ideologies, from populist to libertarian, with some moderates drawn from each camp.

Wagner, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who is working on a book about the partisan divide, gave a presentation at the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication.

Read the story in KALB.

Kaylee Poche

Louisiana is famous for its political spats, and the latest between two Republicans could be a factor in the upcoming special election for secretary of state.

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La, has criticized State Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, for supporting efforts in the state Legislature to compromise over a sales-tax extension to avoid deep budget cuts.

Asked about Kennedy’s comments, Stokes, who is running to replace former Secretary of State Tom Schedler, said Kennedy told her he disliked her because she sent out two positive tweets about one of his opponents when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016.

“I did almost-next-to-nothing to Kennedy, and he’s willing to disparage me all over the state,” Stokes said in an interview. “I just hope people get to a point where they can see through shallow political games like that.”

Read the story in FOX-8.

 

Paul Braun and Drew White

In a 33-6 vote Sunday, the Senate sent a sales tax bill to Gov. John Bel Edwards that could end the financial instability that has dominated discussions at the Capitol and led to seven special sessions since he took office in 2016.

The bill, which represented a compromise Friday between Edwards and House Republicans, will extend 0.45 of a cent of sales tax that was scheduled to expire on July 1.

That will lower the state’s portion of the sales tax to 4.45 percent from 5 percent now. But by not letting the full penny expire, it will raise $463 million to fully fund TOPS scholarships, higher education and state health services and reduce cuts in other areas. The extra 0.45 of a cent will expire in 2025.

Edwards and House Republican leaders also have grappled for control over the budget process, and the Senate voted 39-0 Sunday to pass a supplementary budget bill after acceding to House demands about how some of the spending choices might eventually be made. The House then ratified that deal 88-7, ending the special session.

Read the story in The Natchitoches Times.

Kaylee Poche and Devon Sanders

Paul Braun and Tryfon Boukouvidis

As the Senate prepares to vote Sunday on a compromise to fund the state’s budget, ending a conundrum that has tormented lawmakers and citizens alike for the last three years, two Senate leaders reflected on how the deal came together and what lies ahead for Louisiana.

Committees led by the Democratic Sens. Eric LaFleur of Ville Platte and J.P. Morrell of New Orleans on Saturday approved bills that include the breakthrough terms that Gov. John Bel Edwards and the House agreed to on Friday.

Under that deal, the state will renew 0.45 percent of an expiring penny of sales tax for seven years and use an additional $466 million in revenue from that tax to fully fund TOPS scholarships and other parts of the state budget that had been vulnerable to cuts.

Read the story in The Shreveport Times.