BATON ROUGE-Louisiana received an early Christmas Gift for its schools.

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has accepted a $3.6 million grant from the Wallace Foundation and said that the money will jump start a plan to empower school leadership to achieve academic excellence.

The grant, announced last Friday at a Blue Ribbon Commission on Educational Excellence meeting, will serve as a catalyst for every school in Louisiana to have an effective principal whose leadership will result in success for schools.

"We know that we have to create an atmosphere of success in order for our principals to lead and move our students forward. This grant will help us develop policies and practices that will strengthen their ability to do their job," said Governor Blanco.

Louisiana is one of sixteen states that received the award called the State Action for Education Leadership Project II (SAELPII). More than 20 states applied for the competitive grant.

In her letter to the Wallace Foundation, Governor Blanco wrote,
"significant academic growth is not going to occur until we have
highly effective educational leaders in all schools within the state
that can improve student achievement." The Louisiana department of Education, University of Louisiana System, and Board of Regents are working collaboratively with the Blue Ribbon Commission to implement a plan to recruit, prepare and retain effective educational leaders within schools.

"I believe it is imperative for every school to have a true instructional leader in the role of principal," State Superintendent
of Education Cecil J. Picard said. "We are already working with our
partners in education in developing a leadership initiative that will
help educators reach Louisiana´s accountability goals including
closing the achievement gap."

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