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History Lessons

Despite sporadic periods of reform, New Orleans has never enjoyed a golden age of public education.

By Donald E. DeVore with Allen Johnson Jr.

The last time the governor, the legislature, the mayor of New Orleans and a federal judge showed so much interest in the operation of Orleans Parish Public Schools at the same time was probably during the school desegregation crisis of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Yet there have been other periods of increased legislative and public interest in the administration of the schools.

One such period occurred during the administration of Warren Easton, one of the most powerful school superintendents in the school system’s history. Easton, who served multiple terms from 1888 to 1910, was aligned with city leaders who supported education and individuals associated with educational reform. It was during his time that the school system developed a pretty good secondary education system.

New Orleans Mayor Martin Behrman (1904-1920 and 1925-1926) was very interested and active in public education. Indeed, Behrman considered himself an “education” mayor and used his formidable political skills and capital to increase public school funding. But over time, “reformers” came to the conclusion that the mayor had too much direct political involvement. In 1912, the state Legislature passed a bill that removed itself and city government from direct control of public school governance in New Orleans. And in 1916, the Legislature changed the school board’s name to the present “Orleans Parish School Board” to further distance the board from city government.

Our most successful school boards probably existed in the early 1920s and the 1940s. Their success had a lot to do with the interest of the public and the individuals serving on the boards. It was a five-member school board then — and for most of the 20th century. The late New Orleans historian Joseph Logsdon thought it was key that all five board members ran at-large; to run citywide, candidates had to have greater appeal.

New Orleans never experienced a golden age of education, but there have been periods when school officials attempted to upgrade school facilities, increase teacher pay, improve the curriculum, and expand educational opportunity. And there have been some far-reaching studies in which school and civic leaders attempted to examine regional and national “best practices” for the local district. For a variety of reasons, though, the studies failed to produce significant improvement. The city has had some very good schools within the system, but overall, public schools in the city have always been below regional and national averages.

Today, we are asking our public education system to do more now than in the past. The school district must educate children within the context of various socio-economic issues that affect the schools, such as jobs, housing, crime and family structure. In addition, the school system is educating a larger percentage of the school-age population than it did in the past.

The racial makeup of the school district has changed as well. In 1940, roughly 28,000 African-American students and 54,000 white students attended Orleans Parish Public Schools. By 1960, there were 52,500 African-American and 38,000 white students. In that 20-year period, the populations were almost reversed. Even before school desegregation, there was a decline in the number of white students in public schools because of other factors that had little or nothing to do with race, such as the housing boom after World War II and migration to cheaper homes in the suburbs.

In the past, power over the school district has been transferred from the school board to the Legislature and city government, or from those government bodies. The difference today is the proposed transfer of power from the school board to the superintendent, which is unprecedented locally as well as nationally. In the future, expect to see greater involvement of the Legislature and city government in the school system. Some type of shared operational and governance structure may emerge. Whether such changes will produce the level of systemic school improvement that is needed and desired is a problematic question. Still, fundamental change in local public education is difficult without the significant involvement of the mayor or the governor, or both.

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