BESE committee receives final report on Louisiana workforce and social reform task force

The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Legislation and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to receive the final report of the Louisiana Workforce and Social Reform Task Force, created under Gov. Jeff Landry's Executive Order 24‑44. The committee moved to receive the report (mover: Miss Holloway; second: Miss Champagne) and approved it by voice vote with no objections.

The report — described to the committee as recommending an integrated “one‑door” model for workforce and social services — drew public comment from Erin Bridal of the Pelican Institute. Bridal said the model would reduce siloed service delivery and cited other states’ examples, including Utah, where workforce and social services are more integrated. “This is what many of you might have seen in various reports or in the news called the one‑door model,” Bridal said, adding that it aims to “make poverty in our state not just survivable but escapable.”

Bridal also told the committee that a companion legislative measure has been prefiled in the House. “There’s a piece of legislation that’s already been prefiled, House Bill 624 by Representative Stephanie Baralt that will integrate all of these services and workforce programs under a new and improved state agency,” she said.

Committee member Mister Morse asked whether the proposed integration would specifically address school attendance and truancy. Bridal replied that the integration “is not specifically” focused on truancy but that the proposal “certainly has a lot of relationships to some of the problems that we see,” and that supporting family stability could help children attend school.

After public comment and brief member remarks both praising the report and urging careful implementation, the committee approved the recommendation to receive the task force’s final report and moved to the next agenda item.