John Bel Edwards boosts schools on Morgan City trip

Gubernatorial candidate and state Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-Amite, visited South Central Louisiana Technical College’s Young Memorial Campus in Morgan City today as part of a focus on higher education and education in general during his campaign.
The trip to Morgan City was part of a statewide tour.
Edwards said he wanted to visit Young Memorial because the state has done poorly under Gov. Bobby Jindal in the area of higher education.
“We lead the nation in state general fund cuts to higher education since he’s been governor, and we’ve doubled tuition on our kids,” Edwards said.
He called his Young Memorial visit “a good backdrop for a message of change.”
Edwards wants to spread his message “about putting Louisiana first for a change after eight years of neglect by Bobby Jindal through pursuing his own self-ambition, not what’s in the best interest of our state.”
Edwards has served as a state representative for eight years and also eight years as an active-duty Army officer upon graduating from West Point.
Edwards is “extremely close” with state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, and sits next to Jones on the House floor. Edwards values Jones’ input in the Legislature and in the campaign, he said.
While visiting St. Mary Parish, Edwards was interested to understand how K-12 public education functions in the parish, Edwards said.
Since 2008, Jindal hasn’t asked for additional funding “on a per-student basis for K though 12 education,” Edwards said. Edwards led successful efforts to get two increases in funding for schools during that time, he said. He wanted to talk to educators about different issues including how to improve education by restoring more control over education to local school districts, he said.
Edwards is interested in areas other than education as well, he said.
Regarding health care, Edwards supports coverage expansion through the Medicaid program “which we’re paying for, but we’re refusing the dollars,” he said.
Learning more about the infrastructure needs in St. Mary Parish is also important to Edwards, he said. Edwards has learned of many of those needs through his work with Jones over the years, he said.
“There’s just so much you can learn if you take the time to visit with people and listen as opposed to talking all the time,” Edwards said.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.