Daily Report

One of the most vocal critics of Gov. Bobby Jindal's education proposals, the Louisiana Association of Educators, is suggesting competing plans to improve teacher quality and boost performance at failing schools. The teacher and school employee union wants to rewrite the evaluation system for teachers by removing a requirement that half the evaluation be tied to growth in student test scores. Instead, LAE President Joyce Haynes says the union wants test scores to be only one data source in an evaluation that centers on a peer review process. The LAE wants to require four years (instead of the current three) and additional training before teachers are eligible for tenure. The union also calls for a streamlined process for removing underperforming tenured teachers that would utilize an arbitration panel, "so that no one is waiting for a school board to have a hearing," Haynes says. The union wants a $500 tax credit for teachers for purchasing classroom supplies and more funding for public schools and preschool programs. While teachers unions and Jindal’s supporters are on opposite sides of many issues, Haynes says the LAE and the governor agree on the importance of early childhood education. "We believe the teachers are the experts here," she says. "It took me four years to get into a conversation with the governor. I would hope that those doors would remain open." —David Jacobs

If he's hired as the next superintendent of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Samuel King says uniting the school board will be a priority. "Our work will be centered on the strategic plan," says King, the lone finalist for the job. If everyone supports the strategic plan—and King says board members have assured him they do—then everything the administration and board do together should be aligned with it. "That in itself," he says, "should result in that 6-5 split [among the 11 members] beginning to mitigate itself." Some education watchers—including some board members—are skeptical as to whether or not King, who leads a 16,000-student suburban school district in Rockdale County, near Atlanta, is ready to lead a district as large and poor as East Baton Rouge Parish's. But King says he's been a teacher and an administrator in large urban systems. Due to recent population shifts, the Rockdale system is now 70% minority and 62% economically disadvantaged, yet the district has reached its "adequate yearly progress" targets for five straight years. He says achievement gaps between poor students and the system as a whole have narrowed. In December 2010, King was named Superintendent of the Year by the Georgia School Superintendents Association and Georgia School Boards Association. Last year, King was a finalist for superintendent positions in the Georgia counties of DeKalb and Cobb, according to media reports. While he is the only finalist remaining from the original 44 applicants, he is not guaranteed the job; the board plans to bring him back for further discussion. —David Jacobs

American Gateway Bank President and CEO Don Ayres says the 107-year-old bank is taking steps to address about $35 million in problem loans—accounting for roughly 11% of the bank's total portfolio—that led federal and state regulators to issue a consent order on Dec. 21. The Port Allen-based bank has agreed to the consent order from the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which effectively requires it to outline a plan to improve the quality of the loans, implement the plan according to a timeline and maintain a minimum capital-to-asset ratio.
Ayres says the bank is in good financial health and that he does not anticipate any branch closures or employee layoffs as a result. While the bank posted a $120,000 loss in 2011, Ayres notes, it profited $400,000 in the fourth quarter and expects to make a profit in 2012. Ayres says 74% of the problem loans are currently less than 30 days past due and are being paid upon as agreed. Past due and nonaccrual loans as a percentage of all loans have been reduced by roughly 31% since the middle of 2011, he adds. "We've been working on this for the past two or three years, and we'll continue cooperating with (the LOFI and FDIC) to work through this," Ayres says. "We feel good about our earnings expectations for 2012, and I'm confident that every month is getting better." —Steve Sanoski    Read full story here.

The Louisiana Black Alliance for Educational Options released the results of its annual parental satisfaction survey today, indicating a nearly unanimous approval of a private-school program in the New Orleans area. This year's survey shows a 93.4% satisfaction rate, ranging from "satisfied" to "very satisfied," among parents with children participating in the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence program. The survey also found 94.3% of respondents are happy with their child’s academic progress in the program, and 99% indicated their child feels safe and welcome in their current school. LaBAEO surveyed the parents of SSEE students via mail beginning in December. The SSEE program permits qualifying families to send their children to participating private schools of their choice. According to the Louisiana Department of Education, third-grade students in the program outperformed their peers in New Orleans Recovery School District schools in every subject on the Integrated Louisiana Educational Assessment Program test during the 2010-11 school year. "These results affirm the success of the New Orleans voucher program and clearly show that empowering parents with a choice in their child’s education is imperative," says Lauren Perry of the Louisiana Federation for Children, a pro-voucher group, in a release. "Furthermore, the findings demonstrate a need to expand the current program beyond New Orleans so that children across the state have access to quality educational options." Since being enacted in 2008, the SSEE program has grown to serve more than 1,800 students at 33 schools in Orleans Parish.

Albemarle Corp. has expanded its Process Development Center in Baton Rouge by installing a new production train for finished polyolefin catalysts. The move will lead to five new full-time jobs, the company says. Polyolefin catalysts are used in the production of plastic resins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, which are used in films, pipes and fibers. Ashley Mendoza, senior communications manager for Albemarle, says rapid growth in emerging economies "is increasing the demand for packaged goods, plastic films and building materials. In turn, this is driving demand for high-performance polyolefin plastics like polyethylene and polypropylene." The company is also constructing a plant in Yeosu, South Korea, to manufacture the catalysts. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Albemarle employs about 4,000 people and serves customers in 100 countries. It manufactures specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food safety and custom chemistry services. —Ian McGibboney

Citing "people familiar with the matter," The Wall Street Journal reports Facebook Inc. could file papers for an initial public offering as early as next week and is close to picking Morgan Stanley as the lead underwriter for its IPO. Facebook could file papers for the IPO as early as Wednesday, but that timing is still being discussed, the source says, adding the company is currently looking at a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion—and estimate the stock offering could net as much as $10 billion. Facebook's IPO has been hotly anticipated as a defining moment for the latest Web investing boom. The Menlo Park, Calif. social-networking company, which has more than 800 million members, has changed the way people interact with each other and share information on the Internet. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment, as did a Morgan Stanley spokesman. The largest global technology IPO on record was a $5.9 billion offer in 2000 by Infineon Technologies AG, the former semiconductor unit of Siemens AG. The largest global Internet IPO was a $2.8 billion sale by World Online International NV, a European Internet service provider, also in 2000. The largest U.S. Internet IPO, the $1.9 billion sale in 2004 by Google Inc., which valued Google at $23 billion, ranks No. 3 among global Internet IPOs. Read the full story here.

The flat facts: The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States held steady this week at 2,008, compared to the week previous. The Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. reports 1,225 rigs were exploring for oil and 777 for natural gas. Six were listed as miscellaneous. The tally was higher than the same week year ago, when the firm reported 1,732 active rigs. Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Louisiana lost four rigs, while Oklahoma gained six, Alaska picked up four, New Mexico was up three, Arkansas gained one, Texas lost six and North Dakota lost four. Colorado and Pennsylvania also dropped by two each, while California fell by one and West Virginia was unchanged. The rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.

The date debate: Any proposed changes to the Louisiana Constitution this year should be placed on the Nov. 6 statewide ballot rather than the Dec. 1 ballot, the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana recommends in a research brief released today. "The state could save taxpayer dollars and take advantage of likely higher voter turnout by choosing the national election date on Nov. 6 over the less preferable December voting day," says PAR President Robert Travis Scott. You can check out the nonpartisan research organization’s complete argument on the matter here.

Train in the distance: Transportation Consultants Inc. has formed a public-private partnership with the New Orleans Public Belt to complete a rail infrastructure expansion project to accommodate a larger volume of cargo, which will trigger the start of TCI’s second significant expansion in the past three years. TCI says the partnership will finance infrastructure improvements that will enable it to increase its capacity, generating additional commerce for the city, additional revenue for the Public Belt, and additional business for TCI. The infrastructure improvements facilitated by the public-private partnership will be made possible by financing secured by the NOPB. Based on a cooperative endeavor agreement between TCI and the NOPB, TCI will guarantee NOPB incremental annual revenue from switch and storage fees for a five-year period. Initial projections indicate the NOPB will recover the cost of construction within 18 months, with total incremental revenue of approximately $5.8 million over the next five years.