From his first campaign for governor up until his final days in office as 2024 dawned, teachers were on John Bel Edwards’ mind.
It was obvious from the former governor’s public speeches — including frequent reminders that his wife is a music teacher by profession — and even more so from his ongoing efforts to properly pay those who do this difficult and important job.
Teachers appear to be very much on new Gov. Jeff Landry’s mind too, judging from his inauguration address last Sunday — but not at all for the same reasons.
Just like Edwards, Landry also cited his closeness to a dedicated teacher in his family, his late mother, of whom he told a truly stirring story about her support for girls’ sports before it was popular or mandated.
But then the governor quickly pivoted and conjured up a version of reality in which teachers are potential predators out to “indoctrinate” students against their parents’ will.
It’s safe to say that the rhetorical shift signals a new day in Louisiana. And for all the inauguration’s patriotic imagery under warm golden-hour light, for all Landry’s nods to the state’s diversity and his vows to welcome those with different opinions, it’s a more chilling one.
It was all there in that one loaded word, which Landry made sure to repeat for emphasis.
“Our people seek government that reflects their values,” Landry said. “They demand that our children be afforded an education that reflects those wholesome principles, and not an indoctrination behind their mother’s back… It is only through education without indoctrination that a child finds his or her true potential.”
Right there, even as he emotionally lauded teachers like his mother, he raised the culture war flag that he frequently waved in his eight years as attorney general. Right there — in a line that drew notable applause from supporters assembled outside the state Capitol — he cast teachers as a group not as allies but adversaries who are suspect in their motives.
That wasn’t all. Landry also decried the “toxicity of unsuitable subject matter,” which can also be read as a shot across the bow to the state’s beleaguered librarians, and raises the question of who gets to decide what’s unsuitable not only for their own kids but for others'.
All of this points to an even more central question: What does the governor’s very purposeful word choice mean in terms of policy changes?
We don’t know for sure what he and his legislative allies will push, but it’s fair to assume that we’ll see the return of some proposals that have passed in other states led by politicians who share Landry’s socially conservative politics, and that came up in the Louisiana Legislature but did not make the cut under Edwards.
These may well include bills to govern acceptance of LGBTQ students and teachers; to dictate availability of books that can help students better understand themselves, their peers and their history; to minimize efforts to ensure inclusion of students from all backgrounds; and to restrict teaching about realities about our country’s past and present that may make some students uncomfortable, but that are vital for American citizens to understand.
Beyond what happens in public schools, there is also likely to be a renewed push to divert public money into private, far less regulated education.
Given that Landry steered far away from specifics during his winning campaign, all of this is speculation. For now, it’s best to consider these words from his introduction as governor as a signal.
Ironically, they were surrounded by many more words aimed at inviting back home families and young people who’ve moved away, including far too many of our best and brightest who’ve found better opportunities and quality of life elsewhere.
Certainly, there are plenty of teachers and potential teachers in that number.
So you’ve got to wonder what they might have heard in Landry’s speech, a welcome — or a warning.