(Baton Rouge – October 25) Overruling most of the state’s objections to a Louisiana Federation of Teachers lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Red Tape Reduction Act, a 19th Judicial District judge ruled today that the lawsuit may proceed in court.
The Red Tape Reduction and Local Waiver Empowerment Program was one of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s main initiatives in the 2010 legislative session. It allows local school superintendents, with school board approval, to ask the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for a waiver of virtually any law or policy governing public education.
The Federation filed suit, claiming that the constitution does not allow the legislature to surrender its lawmaking authority to other state boards and commissions.
In its first response to the suit, the attorney general’s office filed six exceptions, or legal objections, to the LFT’s right to file the suit at all. The state’s response to our lawsuit basically claimed that LFT has no right to file the suit, that it was improperly filed, and that it is premature. Attorneys for the state argued that no harm has been done to educators because rules for implementing the waivers have not been adopted by BESE, and because no school system has actually applied for a waiver yet.
LFT General Counsel Larry Samuel said the Federation satisfied all legal requirements in the Petition, and that the lawsuit was not premature because it seeks to declare that Act 749 is unconstitutional.
Division I Judge Michael Caldwell agreed with the Federation’s position on most of the exceptions, and cleared the way for further court action in the case.