Louisiana education leaders set out months ago to create a policy that would let certain high school seniors appeal test scores when those scores threaten their ability to graduate.
In the past month, controversy over the policy has exploded — pitting top state education officials against each other in a skirmish over whether softening standardized test rules will damage learning standards. The process has left local school systems uncertain about which graduation standards to use.
Tensions over the policy reached a boiling point this week.
Board of Elementary and Secondary Education President Holly Boffy on Wednesday issued an emergency declaration putting the new policy into effect immediately, instead of Dec. 20, when it was set to take effect.
In an interview, Boffy said she acted on behalf of seniors who were retaking standardized tests on Thursday after having failed those tests earlier this year, and who needed swift assurance that they would graduate.
“These are young and vulnerable human beings who, with a high school diploma, have hope for their future,” Boffy said. “Without a high school diploma, they do not have as much hope.”
Holly Boffy, principal of the W.D. Smith Career Center, congratulates Devin Barrileaux for his collegiate technical diploma in Welding Level II during a celebration of student success Wednesday, May 4, 2022, at W.D. Smith Career Center in Lafayette, La.
But hours after Boffy sent her letter, Louisiana Education Superintendent Cade Brumley, an opponent of the appeals, told school districts in a letter of his own to ignore the rule or risk possible lawsuits. He also slammed Boffy’s emergency directive, calling it a usurpation of her authority.
“If followed, you and your school system risk potential litigation, and students face the possible revocation of diplomas,” Brumley wrote.
Dispute over the appeals has become entangled with a long-raging debate over the best way to raise Louisiana's educational outcomes, which for decades have lagged almost all of the rest of the U.S.
On one side of the debate are Boffy, Gov. John Bel Edwards and education advocates who say the appeal option will help vulnerable students for whom the plan was initially proposed. Opposing that plan are Brumley, some policymaking groups and Gov.-elect Jeff Landry, the current attorney general, who say it would leave students unprepared for the next steps of their lives after high school.
At issue are exams administered each year under the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, or LEAP, which assess students in grades 3-12 on math, English, social studies and science. BESE in June approved on a 6-5 vote the new appeals process policy, which lets English language learners and other seniors with learning challenges appeal if they don’t meet the state’s LEAP test requirements for graduation.
Cade Brumley, Louisiana state superintendent of education, speaks about the 2023 LEAP standardized test scores during a media conference Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, at the Cyber Innovation Center in Bossier City, Louisiana.
Individual schools would grant or deny a student's request to appeal.
Debate over the policy surfaced last month at a hearing of the House Education Committee. Lawmakers on the GOP-controlled committee ended up rejecting the rule on an 8-3 vote that fell mostly along party lines, with Democrats voting to approve the rule and Republicans voting against it. But Edwards, a Democrat, bucked the panel several days later by granting the rule final approval.
Some critics of the appeals process called Boffy’s invocation of the emergency rule a political ploy because Landry opposes the plan and could strike it down after he is sworn in next year.
“It appears to me BESE is trying to use this emergency provision not because it’s an actual emergency, but as a way to avoid the rule being vetoed by the next governor, which is truly shocking,” said Erin Bendily, vice president for policy and strategy at the Pelican Institute, a think tank that advocates for conservative policy priorities.
A Landry spokesperson declined comment Thursday. But in an email obtained by this newspaper, the head of the attorney general’s civil division, Angelique Freel, warned Boffy that her move was an “abuse of process.”
State Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, also called Boffy’s declaration “inexcusable and unacceptable, and a severe disservice to our students” in a tweet on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
Boffy, a Republican, argued Thursday that she didn’t need Brumley’s approval to issue the declaration, which is often reserved for natural disasters or other high-stakes situations.
But she acknowledged that it’s unclear just who has the authority to declare an emergency. The House Education Committee on Thursday set a Dec. 5 “oversight hearing” to weigh that question.
Brumley, also a Republican, told the Superintendent’s Advisory Council Thursday that while the situation was “uncomfortable,” his pushback against Boffy’s emergency declaration came from a wish to “prevent chaos in schools with students and leaders and families.”
William Kennedy, an advisory council member and the Claiborne Parish school system superintendent, responded that confusion has already begun to unfold.
“I have had to share with (a high school senior) recently... that this isn’t final yet, and that if she doesn’t pass the test in December, she may not have the opportunity for this waiver,” Kennedy said.
He paused.
“The kid has come back to school because I’ve convinced her to,” he continued. “I’m gonna see her tomorrow and have a conversation, and I don’t want to lie to her. And if the conversation is that this waiver is probably going away, that you’re not going to have a chance, she’s done. She’s not coming back. She’s scared to death of the test, and some kids are just that way.”