La. Law Reshuffles Personnel Powers in Districts

Louisiana superintendents will start this new school year with the power to hire and fire teachers without approval of local school boards, thanks to a recent law passed by the state legislature.

But school leaders in the state say that the law, which went into effect July 1 and is referred to as “Act I,”

That’s because school boards retain the power to get rid of superintendents they disagree with, said Rep. J. Rogers Pope, a Republican who is also the executive director of the Louisiana Association of School Executives. He voted against the law. In addition to putting the superintendent in the cross hairs of a displeased board’s ire, the law also eliminates some of the needed oversight capacity that a board can exercise over a school district chief and a...