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Layoffs underway at EBR tackles teacher public health agencies Sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink workforce
turnover Ready for a lush, inviting lawn? Here’s what you need to know
School officials call rate ‘unsustainable’
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By AMANDA SEITZ
Hundreds of employees waiting to get in stand in a line wrapped around the outside of the Health and Human Services headquarters building in Washington on Tuesday.
Cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, senior leaders BY CARLA K. JOHNSON
Associated Press
Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department received notices Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated, part of a sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink the agencies responsible for protecting and promoting Americans’ health. The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the federal government without many of the key experts who have long guided U.S.
ebrated the swearing-in of his latest hires: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the new director of the National Institutes of Health, and Martin Makary, the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner. Kennedy’s post came just hours after employees began receiving emailed layoff notices. He later wrote, “Our hearts go out ä Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton to those who have lost their jobs” but Rouge, says resignation of top said that the department needs to be “recalibrated” to emphasize disease vaccine regulator does not prevention. violate commitment from Health Kennedy announced a plan last Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. week to remake the department, PAGE 5A which, through its agencies, is responsible for tracking health trends decisions on medical research, drug and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, and approvals and other issues. “The revolution begins today!” monitoring the safety of food and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy ä See LAYOFFS, page 5A Jr. wrote on social media as he cel-
For every 10 teachers hired, only three are still teaching in East Baton Rouge Parish public schools five years later. Annually, nearly a quarter of the teachers leave the school system, according to data from a consulting firm hired by the school district. That compares with 15% annual teacher turnover across Louisiana and 16% nationwide. “This turnover rate is unsustainable for any organization which hopes to be (well-functioning) or provide any sort of organizational stability,” according to a new report from SSA Consultants of Baton Rouge, the consultancy helping the school district devise a new pay structure aimed at boosting teacher retention. Recruiting, hiring and training teachers is expensive. SSA estimated those costs are as much as $25,000 per teacher for a large urban district like East Baton Rouge. Since July, the school system has hired more than 600 educators, but lost about 400 who have resigned or retired. “This represents an enormous cost of continuously having to retrain teachers as institutional knowledge is lost,” said Cody Saucier, a senior SSA consultant. To reverse this trend, the consulting firm recommended a top-to-bottom overhaul of how East Baton Rouge schools pay employees, particularly
ä See TEACHER, page 4A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Since July, the East Baton Rouge Parish school system has hired more than 600 educators, but lost about 400 who have resigned or retired.
Constitutional amendments defeated by bipartisan opposition Left-, right-leaning groups worked against proposals
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
A charismatic Pentecostal preacher. A Grammy-winning singer and songwriter. A former Republican state representative. A one-time Saints defensive star.
WEATHER HIGH 88 LOW 74 PAGE 8B
Leaders of groups that oppose putting children in adult prisons. An unlikely crew of people on both the left and the right on Saturday torpedoed Gov. Jeff Landry’s effort to revamp Louisiana’s tax system and make three other changes to the state constitution. Landry raised money for an expensive advertising campaign and stumped throughout Louisiana in particular for Amendment 2, a complicated measure that would have rewritten the state tax code
to reduce the top individual tax rate and impose a cap on government spending. He supported the other three amendments, which would have created specialty courts, expanded the number of crimes that would put children in adult prisons and changed election dates for judicial vacancies. Each of the four amendments lost overwhelmingly, winning only 35% or so of the vote. After a string of successes, Landry suffered his worst defeat
during his 15 months as governor. Black voters turned out in bigger than expected numbers to vote “no,” after being reached through a grassroots digital media campaign and apparently motivated at least in part by opposition to Landry and President Donald Trump. About 10,000 more people voted in liberal New Orleans in Saturday’s election than did in the governor’s race in October 2023 that elected Landry, and 91% of those who voted there on Saturday re-
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jected all four amendments. But the rejection was so decisive that the high Democratic turnout doesn’t tell the whole story — the governor didn’t win over enough Republicans, analysts say. Amendment 2 lost in 50 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes, said pollster and political analyst John Couvillon. The amendment passed in only 8 of the 28 Republican-held Senate districts and 27 of the 73 Republi-
ä See AMENDMENTS, page 6A
100TH yEAR, NO. 276