BATON ROUGE – With less than forty days remaining before Louisiana voters go to the polls to render their verdict on seven years of failed GOP policies, Republican candidates up and down the ballot are being dragged down by the weight of their party’s failures on education. Since seizing control of the governor’s mansion in 2008, Louisiana Republicans have cut state funding for education by over 43%. In the same time frame, Louisiana families have seen tuition costs spike— increasing over 51% when adjusted for inflation. In-state tuition for higher education has grown at the fastest rate in the nation in the last five years, and the same failed Republican policies that threatened to bankrupt LSU are still being championed by GOP candidates at all levels.
While John Bel Edwards was in the legislature fighting for Louisiana families, working to expand access to early childhood education and protect funding for schools, his Republican opponents in the race for governor were silent on the sidelines. While Scott Angelle and Jay Dardenne offered nothing in the way of leadership, Sen. David Vitter’s sole contribution was to weigh in against extending a tax holiday for school supplies.
“In the last seven years, Republican policies have failed our children on every level, from pre-K to college,” said Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, chairwoman of the Louisiana Democratic Party. “This fall, voters have the chance to elect a legislature and a governor who will put Louisiana first, and make good on our most important obligation: offering all of our children the chance to get a good education.”
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