Education

For generations Louisiana has faced problems associated with poor public education and underfunded higher education systems. This has led to high rates of truency, high drop-out rates, and, for the best and brightest who make it through the public education system and seek outstanding opportunities to continue their educational careers, seeking out-of-state options for their college education.

And while the public and higher education systems in Louisiana struggle with a myriad of issues, the effects of these problems dispurse into comminuties across the state. Poor education, along with other broken systems, help lead to generational cycles of poverty and other associated social ills that cause many citizens of our state to rely on other social systems and also become involved in the criminal justice system. This cycle not only keeps populations of our state depressed and downtrodden, but it also causes the state to allocate an inordinate amount of resources on providing social services to such a large population of people.

Further, education is closely tied to job training and workforce development. If our citizens are not properly trained to fill both bluecollar and whitecollar jobs, our state will suffer as more and more companies pull out of the state and will refuse to relocate to Louisiana due to the poor levels of education and job preparedness among the pool of potential employment candidates.

These effects are exacerbated during times of crisis. Many of the uneducated within the various communities across the state are likely be those who live at or below the poverty level, thus limiting their abilities to evacuate prior to the arrival of any disaster. Once a disaster hits, this same population is likely to be limited as it relatess to being able to access public and private assistance programs. Further, if there are no systems coordinated within the state government to receive workforce clients and other clients from long-term case management programs

These man-made disasters of poor K-12 education systems, underfunded higher ed, and the lack of alignment between the Workforce Commission at long-term recovery plans in the wake of disaster has many roots and it continues to have dramatic negative affects on the state as a whole. As it relates to long-term recovery, poor education within the state has produced a public that as highly vulnerable in emergency and disaster situations, thus forcing more resources to be expended during the preparation, response, and recovery stages of disaster.

Key Recovery Corps positions related to education:

• Ensure that the state has an active and updated recovery plan that provides immediate educational access by enrolling and placing disaster-affected students in educational services
• Identify available school facilities and implement an immediate school enrollment process
• Relax legal requirements, such as the requirement to submit immunization and medical records during student enrollment, during disaster declarations and recovery
• Mental health counseling should be provided to all teachers and administrators
• Provide engaging after-school support and tutoring for displaced students