Recent editorials from Louisiana newspapers:
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Feb. 5
American Press on a legislative task force tracking efforts to discourage sexual misconduct in Louisiana’s state government:
Sexual harassment accusations against ex-Secretary of State Tom Schedler and a former aide to Gov. John Bel Edwards have led to the formation of a task force charged with tracking Louisiana’s efforts to discourage the conduct.
Schedler is Louisiana’s top public official unseated by sexual misconduct claims since the #MeToo movement began. He resigned in 2018 after a former employee claimed he harassed her for years and punished her when she rebuffed his repeated advances.
Schedler’s spokeswoman said the pair had a consensual sexual relationship. The woman’s lawyer denied that.
The two came to a settlement in August. The agreement involved a $167,500 payment to the woman, no acknowledgment of liability from Schedler and a gag order for all those involved.
Johnny Anderson, Edwards’ deputy chief of staff, resigned in 2017 amid claims he sexually and physically harassed a state employee for more than a year. That included sexually explicit text messages and demands of sexual favors from the aide as early as her job interview, she claimed.
Anderson had a history of harassment accusations involving him that dated back to 2006, when he worked for then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco, according to The Times-Picayune.
A legislative auditor’s review last spring found that Louisiana taxpayers had paid more than $5 million on harassment lawsuits across state government over the past decade. The auditor found that more than 330 harassment claims have been reported internally in the past five years with more than half coming from within the state’s higher education and corrections systems, according to The Advocate.
The auditor also noted at the time that the state had no uniform anti-harassment policy.
The state obviously has a problem, but is working toward correcting it.
The state’s first government-wide policy against sexual harassment has taken effect, requiring agencies to enact policies that include a process for handling complaints, a ban against retaliation when someone files a complaint and mandatory annual prevention training.
The new task force, which held its first meeting at the end of last month, is expected to oversee how state agencies are responding to the new requirements.
“The Legislature is taking these issues very seriously,” Rep. Greg Miller, a Norco Republican and vice chairman of the task force, told The Advocate.
In light of Louisiana’s high-profile sexual misconduct claims recently it’s good to know the state is taking a sincere effort to end all harassment.
Online: https://www.americanpress.com/
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Feb. 6
The Advocate on working families who still struggle financially:
That Louisiana has a lot of poor people is no secret, but a new report lends some sobering detail to a problem that’s plagued the state for generations.
Meet ALICE, the United Way’s acronym for working families that are very often not making it at a level needed to support children or avoid catastrophic financial crises.
ALICE stands for Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. ALICE families are not at the official poverty level, but are unable to make a basic cost of living standard that was developed by experts at the request of United Way agencies in 17 states including Louisiana.
These are families where typically both adults work. But add the costs of an infant and a preschooler, and the study shows that just under $5,000 a month is needed for the basics like housing, health care, transport and food.
That leaves precious little if anything for savings and the capacity to launch young children into a better life.
The United Way report is broken down to the parish level. It’s based on 2016 data and is not strictly comparable with the earlier 2014 report. One change has been that household expenses include some money for technology, since possession of a cellphone has become basic for holding just about any job.
The data also does not encompass a full year of Medicaid expansion, ordered by Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2016 but only going into effect at mid-year. That should provide some benefits for families in the ALICE bracket.
The report nevertheless documents a huge proportion of Louisiana’s workforce in trouble. Low-wage employment becomes a difficult lifestyle for both individuals and those families with children. Two-thirds of jobs in the state pay less than $15 an hour, the UW report says, and that’s not enough for many families, even in wealthier parishes.
In both Baton Rouge and New Orleans, a majority are either ALICE or poverty-level. But the “issues are just as significant for the Northshore as for Orleans,” said Roger Ogden, a businessman and leader in the United Way of Southeast Louisiana.
Parts of Louisiana are worse, of course. The Mississippi Delta extends south to the Baton Rouge area to parishes like St. Helena, where 57 percent are either ALICE or at poverty level. In Acadiana, Lafayette Parish is relatively good at 44 percent in both categories, but more rural parishes like St. Landry clock in at 57 percent.
Events can quickly change circumstances for families. The 2016 data showed ALICE families rising to 28 percent from an earlier 22 percent in the Baton Rouge area after the catastrophic 2016 flood, according to the Capital Area United Way.
We hope these findings inform the debates ahead among candidates for governor and the Legislature this year. Government alone can’t be the solution for the struggles that ALICE families face, but it can be a key player in improving the lives of the many Louisiana residents who are barely making it. Now is the time for wide public discussion about what can be done to help the working poor get a little farther up the ladder.
Online: https://www.theadvocate.com/
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Feb. 3
NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune on state money needed to provide preschool to more than 5,000 children on a waiting list:
Tens of thousands of Louisiana’s youngest children are being left behind. Their families can’t afford quality preschool or child care, leaving them unprepared for kindergarten and damaging their future.
But a study commission appointed by the Legislature has an ambitious plan to fix that.
The Early Childhood Care and Education Commission approved a plan Tuesday to ask legislators for $85.8 million in next year’s budget to provide preschool to 5,520 children in need who are on a waiting list for services. The money also would be used to increase subsidies for existing preschool seats and to continue funding for 800 4-year-olds who are served by a grant that is ending.
Then, each year for the next nine years, the commission wants the Legislature to add funding for 9,630 more children - providing services to a total of 92,000 additional children from birth to age 3 over the next decade.
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While a child’s brain is 90 percent formed by age 5, Louisiana provides quality child care services to less than 7 percent of children birth to two years old and less than 33 percent of 3-year-olds.
This isn’t only detrimental to individual families. Two out of three children under age 5 in Louisiana have both parents or their single parent working, according to the 2018 Kids Count report. Research also found that Louisiana’s economy loses an estimated $1.1 billion each year due to absences by parents because of breakdowns in child care.
The findings of that 2017 report by the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, LSU, Loyola University and Entergy were bleak: 14 percent of parents turned down a promotion because of child care issues; 18.5 percent went from full-time to part-time work; 16 percent had to quit their job, and more than 40 percent had to miss work or leave early during a 90-day period.
The Council for a Better Louisiana also pointed out the connection: “As important as early education is in the cognitive development of children and their preparation for school, it is also becoming a workforce development issue of growing importance to businesses.”
So, investing in early childhood education is smart.
Educators and other advocates for Louisiana children have pushed the Legislature for years to increase funding for preschool. A coalition of more than 45 business, advocacy and community groups called Ready Louisiana - which includes the Committee of 100 for Economic Development, League of Women Voters, Louisiana Budget Project and Stand for Children - are dedicated to getting resources for preschool.
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In 2018, lawmakers put $28 million in new federal funding into the Child Care Assistance Program, which provides aid for low-income working parents in school or job training. But there was no new state money committed to the program.
The Child Care Assistance Program was serving almost 40,000 children under age 4 a decade ago, but it only had money for 15,000 by 2017. The infusion of federal funding was expected to take care of some of the children on a waiting list, but there are thousands more who need services.
Those are the children the $85.8 million requested by the early childhood commission would help.
The funding won’t be easy to find, but the Legislature must do it. …
Online: https://www.nola.com/
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