ABOUT LEE BARRIOS
Lee Barrios, a retired middle school teacher from Abita Springs and an outspoken critic of state education reforms, announced her candidacy for the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Barrios is seeking the 1st District seat held by Attorney James Garvey for the last 12 years. "Mr. Garvey has approved every policy proposal, contract and budget expenditure that our State Superintendent has recommended. That includes Supt. White's most recent policy that requires schools to use his singularly handpicked and approved curricula - Eureka Math and Core Knowledge (both transformed into Louisiana Guidebooks Curricula for Math and Language Arts). Supt. White has told Districts that do not comply by replacing their own textbooks and other instructional materials with these two curricula that they will NOT receive Federal ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) competitive grant funds. Louisiana State Law prohibits the State from mandating curriculum.
The district covers all of St. Tammany Parish most of Jefferson, and parts of Orleans Parish. See BESE MAPS tab.
"My position has always been to preserve the locally elected governance structure of the school system, advocate for full and equitable funding, demand accountability for educators at all levels based on appropriate methods of evaluation ... and end the one-size-fits-all HIGH STAKES standardized test as a PUNITIVE and flawed measure of learning," Barrios said in a statement.
"I want to return our Department of Education to an agency that supports public education and employs qualified experienced educators rather than Supt. White's handpicked edupreneurs who have no education expertise with which to develop education policy. Our Department of Education budget is largely misspent and wasted thereby depriving our children of the qualified and certified educators, quality instructional materials and funding needed to improve our schools."
Barrios warned, "The Common Core Initiative that my opponent signed on to and forced on local school districts must be eliminated. The media and his campaign finance report reveal the huge investment made by special interests in his campaign. Do not let our public education system be bought."
Barrios served as vice president of the St. Tammany Association for Gifted and Talented, is a founding member of the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education, was on the Governing Board of Save Our Schools National, is a founding and active member of the national research organization Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and was awarded the Distinguished Educator award from the Louisiana PTA in 1995. She spent 17 years teaching gifted students, first at Slidell High School and then at Mandeville Junior High in St. Tammany Parish. Barrios has a degree in English and Journalism Education, Master of Secondary Education and was awarded National Board Certification by the National Board for Professional Teacher Standards.
Barrios was endorsed by the Alliance for Good Government, NOLA Coalition and the Network for Public Education headed by Dr. Diane Ravitch.
Barrios has three children and six grandchildren all of whom attended public schools.
See more at ABOUT LEE!
Barrios is seeking the 1st District seat held by Attorney James Garvey for the last 12 years. "Mr. Garvey has approved every policy proposal, contract and budget expenditure that our State Superintendent has recommended. That includes Supt. White's most recent policy that requires schools to use his singularly handpicked and approved curricula - Eureka Math and Core Knowledge (both transformed into Louisiana Guidebooks Curricula for Math and Language Arts). Supt. White has told Districts that do not comply by replacing their own textbooks and other instructional materials with these two curricula that they will NOT receive Federal ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) competitive grant funds. Louisiana State Law prohibits the State from mandating curriculum.
The district covers all of St. Tammany Parish most of Jefferson, and parts of Orleans Parish. See BESE MAPS tab.
"My position has always been to preserve the locally elected governance structure of the school system, advocate for full and equitable funding, demand accountability for educators at all levels based on appropriate methods of evaluation ... and end the one-size-fits-all HIGH STAKES standardized test as a PUNITIVE and flawed measure of learning," Barrios said in a statement.
"I want to return our Department of Education to an agency that supports public education and employs qualified experienced educators rather than Supt. White's handpicked edupreneurs who have no education expertise with which to develop education policy. Our Department of Education budget is largely misspent and wasted thereby depriving our children of the qualified and certified educators, quality instructional materials and funding needed to improve our schools."
Barrios warned, "The Common Core Initiative that my opponent signed on to and forced on local school districts must be eliminated. The media and his campaign finance report reveal the huge investment made by special interests in his campaign. Do not let our public education system be bought."
Barrios served as vice president of the St. Tammany Association for Gifted and Talented, is a founding member of the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education, was on the Governing Board of Save Our Schools National, is a founding and active member of the national research organization Parent Coalition for Student Privacy and was awarded the Distinguished Educator award from the Louisiana PTA in 1995. She spent 17 years teaching gifted students, first at Slidell High School and then at Mandeville Junior High in St. Tammany Parish. Barrios has a degree in English and Journalism Education, Master of Secondary Education and was awarded National Board Certification by the National Board for Professional Teacher Standards.
Barrios was endorsed by the Alliance for Good Government, NOLA Coalition and the Network for Public Education headed by Dr. Diane Ravitch.
Barrios has three children and six grandchildren all of whom attended public schools.
See more at ABOUT LEE!
