La. Gov.-Elect John Bel Edwards Wants a New State Superintendent.
One of Governor-Elect John Bel Edwards’ desires is to rid Louisiana of education superintendent John White.
Even though Governor Bobby Jindal promoted and endorsed White as state superintendent, technically it is the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) that hires the superintendent and the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee that confirms BESE’s hire.
And technically, it is BESE that would vote to fire him– which some see as an impossibility since most of those seated on the incoming BESE appear to be on White’s side.
However, there are ways to rid Louisiana of John White, ways that go beyond mere BESE configuration. As governor, John Bel Edwards is well leveraged to pressure White to either resign or to prompt BESE to vote him out.
On November 22, 2015, I spoke with Louisiana Representative Brett Geymann (Lake Charles) regarding the leverage that Edwards has in fulfilling his preference for a new state superintendent.
Rep. Brett Geymann
“Two things,” Geymann began. “First is the BESE ethics bill. There are two versions, one sponsored by me [in 2014], and the other, by Bob Hensgens [in 2015]. It had the support of the House to move two years ago and died by the Jindal administration in the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.” Geymann explained that in negotiations for the Common Core Compromise bill that passed, no other anti-La. Gov.-Elect John Bel Edwards Wants a New State Superintendent. | deutsch29: