States

Louisiana Board Member Quits Over Growing Federal Imprint

February 12, 2010 1 min read
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One of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s appointees to Louisiana’s board of education abruptly resigned yesterday in protest over what she says is a troubling federal influence on the state’s K-12 policies.

In her resignation letter to the Republican governor, Tammie McDaniel wrote that by serving on the board she was “complicit in supporting federal policies that I genuinely oppose,” according to the Associated Press.

Her resignation signals a growing chorus of state officials who are publicly expressing their disenchantment with the K-12 initiatives of the Obama administration.

Louisiana’s public schools, led by state Superintendent Paul G. Pastorek, are widely viewed as one of the strongest contenders in the $4 billion federal Race to the Top competition. But McDaniel, a former principal and teacher, fundamentally disagrees with the state’s efforts to shape its K-12 policies according to guidelines laid out by the Obama administration in RTTT and other federal initiatives.

A version of this news article first appeared in the State EdWatch blog.

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