Louisiana House Refuses to End Paddling in Public Schools Subscribe
Baton Rouge , La. -
A bid to ban paddling and other forms of corporal punishment in Louisiana’s public schools fell five votes short of passage in the state House.
Forty-eight lawmakers supported the proposal from New Orleans Republican Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, while 49 voted against needed 53 votes to pass. that critics said the measure would usurp the rights of local school districts to decide the issue for themselves. Republican Rep. Larry Bagley, a former teacher from Stonewall, said rules are in effect to make sure corporal punishment is done properly.
Louisiana House refuses to end paddling in public schools
May 5, 2021
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) A bid to ban paddling and other forms of corporal punishment in Louisiana s public schools fell five votes short of passage in the state House.
Forty-eight lawmakers supported the proposal from New Orleans Republican Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, while 49 voted against it Tuesday night. The bill needed 53 votes to pass.
The Advocate reports that critics said the measure would usurp the rights of local school districts to decide the issue for themselves. Republican Rep. Larry Bagley, a former teacher from Stonewall, said rules are in effect to make sure corporal punishment is done properly.
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A bill to ban corporal punishment in Louisiana s public schools was rejected by a narrow margin in the state House, leaving spanking as an option in 29 of the 69 systems that allow it now.
Metairie Republican Rep. Stephanie Hilferty s House Bill 324 would have outlawed the practice of paddling, spanking or any other form of corporal punishment in the state s public school systems.
The bill failed on a 48-49 vote. It needed 53 votes for passage.
Opponents of the bill like Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, a former teacher, said corporal punishment should be decided on a local level. Bagley said he has spanked students before with their parents permission, which is required in current law.
I ve seen the relief it can provide, said Bagley, who said he has never smoked marijuana.
John Davis of Wellcana Group, one of the state s two authorized cannabis growers as a partner with the LSU AgCenter, said the current medical products are costly because they require expensive equipment to process them.
Magee s companion bill (HB 514) that would apply state sales taxes to the raw marijuana product, or flower, has already passed the full House with 70 votes.
Currently, medical marijuana products aren t subject to sales taxes. House Bill 514 would only tax the raw smokable form of the plant, not the tinctures and gummies already on the market.
This letter is directed to the people of south Shreveport and Bossier City, and all users of the aging Jimmie Davis Bridge.
Former Shreveport Mayor Cedric Glover, now State Representative for District 4 in north and west Shreveport, is trying to correct a gross error made two years ago in the use of $100 million sent to north Louisiana from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement with BP.
Glover’s House Bill 645 restores the original use of that money to the shovel-ready project to replace Jimmie Davis Bridge. Everyone in the region who uses that bridge should call or write their legislators and tell them to back this bill.