White, Mannino Debate Senate Race at SLU

by Megan Mosher

Hammond Daily Star Staff Writer

HAMMOND — Education was a major focus of questions for Senate District 6 candidates Bodi White and Mike Mannino during the political forum at the Student Union Theatre at Southeastern Louisiana University Monday evening.

Asked about the current governance structure for higher eduction, White and Mannino said there is too much duplication and the boards should be merged.  White said there should be one board for the University of Louisiana System which governs Southeastern and one for the community colleges.

When questioned if TOPS should be more selective, White said funding TOPS is a necessity because it is the state’s most popular program.  Mannino said there should be some standard that high school students must work towards.

“We have a lot of kids going to college just taking a free ride and not getting what they should be getting out of it because we’re not putting enough incentive there or enough requirements on them maintaining the scholarship,” Mannino said.

Both men said education is important to workforce development, but they agree it should come through technical schools and community colleges that teach labor-geared courses.

“Now we’re producing college graduates who can’t get a job,”  White said.  “We need to teach our kids it’s OK to work with your hands.”  Both agreed another system besides tenure should be utilized in hiring and retaining teachers.

“Tenure has a detrimental effect on education,” Mannino said.  “It should be a merit-based system.”

White said he is OK with doing away with tenure as long as there is a contract system in place that would allow some job security for teachers.

The two differed widely on the issue of allowing universities to increase their own tuition.  “As long as the state’s financing higher education, we can’t have them unilaterally raising tuition,” Mannino said.  “It’s become unaffordable for a lot of people.”  White, on the other hand, felt universities should be allowed more autonomy in raising fees.  “Let them run their own business,” White said, stating he supports the GRAD Act that forces the schools to have better retention rates.

Regarding the public school system, both candidates said micro-management from the school board is a problem.  Mannino said the school board should not be directly involved in the day-to-day activities of the schools and should let the principals do their jobs.

“We should have a single board.  There are too many boards doing the same thing,” Mannino said.

Both said they were in favor of term limits for school board members.  “I don’t have a problem with term limits,” White said.  “It should be a local decision.”

Tangipahoa

Other questions concerned the amount of representation they would give Tangipahoa Parish, which is a relatively small section of the new District 6.  White promised to have an office in either Ponchatoula or Hammond, with representatives who have specific office hours designed to meet the needs of the parish.  “I won’t have a representative in Tangipahoa Parish, because I’m going to be here myself.  I’m a hands-on guy,” Mannino said.

Asked about the possibility of continuing the widening of Interstate 12 through Tangipahoa Parish Mannino said the need for it would have to be assessed.  “If that is a real need, then it should be a priority,” Mannino aid, stating there are a lot of federal dollars tied up in the widening projects.  White countered by pointing out about three quarters of the current widening projects in Livingston and St. Tammany parishes are funded by state dollars.  White said the widening should be pushed past Walker and through Tangipahoa. “It will happen,” he said.

Both said they thought the number of senators Tangipahoa now have will be beneficial for the parish.  Both also said they do not always vote along party lines and would maintain autonomy between their position as senator and the wishes of the governor.

“I will work with the governor, but when the governor has issues and I can’t vote for them, I’ll tell him straight to his face, I can’t support that,” White said, pointing out his history of gaining compromise in the House.  Mannino agreed, stating, “There’s 144 representatives that have been elected by the people that should make the decisions.”

Taxes, privatization

Both candidates said they would be in favor of cutting taxes and providing more tax incentives.  Mannino said he would specifically be in favor of abolishing the state income tax.  “That is one of the most business friendly moves you can make,” he said.White said he previously voted against abolishing the tax, stating it came with no plan on how to replace that revenue in funding areas such as education.

“I’ll vote for it, but I can’t be irresponsible,” White said.

Courtesy of Hammond Daily Star