League of Women Voters of Lafayette, LA

The Program Committee listed the areas of interest from the membership survey forms and ranked them by frequency of topic/related topic. Education was clearly the major concern, followed by race relations, voter participation, and social justice.

Programs held for the membership this year on the educational potential of fiber to the home and the Comprehensive Plan for Lafayette Consolidated Government with the renewal of the LINC Committee, forums presented at the State Convention, and the observations of governing bodies made by members of the Observer Corps, a field trip by the Voter Service Committee, and analysis of current reoccurring newspaper topics led to these particular proposed local issues for this year.

SUPPORT POSITION

The League of Women Voters of Lafayette believes that Lafayette Consolidated Government must adequately fund and implement the LINC Comprehensive Plan. In particular, our local government must support a compact pattern of development to avoid urban sprawl and environmental hazards, as well as lower infrastructure costs. Further, Lafayette Consolidated Government must increase the amount of open green space and parks.

STUDY ISSUES IN EDUCATION

I. STUDY OF THE MERITS OF A LONG-TERM (10-year) FACILITIES PLAN FOR LAFAYETTE PARISH SCHOOL SYSTEM

Need:

Education is consistently a top priority in surveys taken of the perceived needs of local communities and Lafayette is no exception. Educational reform is one of the most popular political causes vying with fiscal responsibility for top honors. But both reform and fiscal responsibility in education are dependent upon a decidedly unpopular and less easily promoted element: infrastructure. Evidence is mounting that Lafayette’s educational infrastructure is failing: existing school buildings are deteriorating; schools are operating beyond their capacity; and the use of T-buildings has become standard. To some extent these stressful problems are the result of hoped-for changes: Lafayette’s population and economy are growing; curriculum and technology changes have increased physical plant needs at each school; and specialized programs of choice offer more alternatives to the parish’s students at all levels at the cost of additional demands on the physical capacity of the schools.

Previous commitments to lowering class size, one of the most certain ways to increase student performance, have been reduced as a consequence of funding shortfalls and one of the major impediments to renewing those commitments is the lack of classroom space.

Achieving the community’s goals of improving education requires attention to the supporting infrastructure. But, as a recent rejection of tax initiatives show, finding the income to repair old and build new infrastructure is dependent upon demonstrating a clear need, showing an efficient method for supplying that need, and providing a funding mechanism that Lafayette understands as being fair.

Role of the League:

Conflict on the Board and between the Board and the professional administration of the Lafayette Parish School System enhance the value of an outside, nonpartisan study of these issues. The League of Women Voter’s nonpartisan, study-based tradition make it an excellent candidate for providing such a study. The League’s natural focus on family and community issues enhances its credibility in this area.

Potential Areas of Study:

1. Appropriate Size of High School, Middle School, Elementary School Campus for Student and Staff Safety and Effective Administration and Instruction

2. Board Policy on Pupil-Teacher Ratio for Each Grade and the Implicit Infrastructure Commitments

3. Maintenance Estimates for Repairs for Each Existing Campus and a Priority System to Determine Delivery Schedule

4. Cost effectiveness of Building Wing(s) on Each Campus vs. Continuing to Lease Portable Buildings Long Term

5. Growth Projections in Each School Feeder Zone

6. Changing Curricular Needs That Affect Facilities

7. Compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act

8. Ancillary Service Delivery Needs That Affect Facilities

9. Updating Technology Needs in All Schools

10. Adequate Parking & Lighting of Parking Lots

11. Current Physical Condition of School Board Office

II. STUDY TO DETERMINE THE BEST PRACTICES FOR USING A COMMUNITY-OWNED FIBER TO THE HOME PROJECT TO MAKE LAFAYETTE AN INCLUSIVE, DIGITALLY ADVANCED COMMUNITY

Need:

Lafayette will soon be in the nearly unique position of owning both a fiber to the home network and a wireless data network. Public ownership of advanced network architectures is sufficiently rare that there will be a natural inclination to adopt models used by private providers. But the constraints and potentials of public ownership are substantially different from those that guide for-profit organizations. For Lafayette to make best use of its network an in-depth review of current practices of both private and public network providers should be undertaken with an eye toward making solid recommendations for best serving community goals.

Role of the League:

While the electorate overwhelmingly approved the fiber project, the details of project implementation remain uncertain. The successful backers of the plan emphasized the potential for economic development and especially job development that would give today’s children a productive local future. Related to that was a commitment to “bridge the digital divide;’ that is, to make certain that all segments of the community benefited from the new public resource the vote would create. Lafayette’s leaders assured the community that this could be done in a fiscally responsible fashion that would prepare the city for a future as a digital leader. A non-partisan, non-governmental study that could recommend a set of suggested best practices that would help meet the expressed needs of the community would be very useful to Lafayette. The League’s non-partisan nature and reputation for solid, research-based study of community needs makes it an obvious choice for developing a study group to explore the community potentials of the new service and to lay out a path toward meeting the community’s goals that would be credible in the eyes of the still-contending forces.

While the study group process will determine the final shape of the report offered the members it is possible to identify some areas that would benefit from consideration even at this early stage.

Potential Areas of Study:

1. Workforce training

2. Economic development

3. K-12 Education

4. College and Advanced Study

5. Lifelong Education and Access to Knowledge

6. E-government

7. Media Awareness and Digital Production

8. Strategies for Increasing Participation

9. Development of a Local Information Commons

10. Roles of non-profits, governmental agencies, and businesses