Louisiana’s child welfare agency left hundreds of online child abuse reports to languish for days as it prioritized intake from its phone hotline. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Greg LaRose and Julie O’Donoghue report:
“At this point, we’re really jeopardizing the safety of children, and I feel like the public needs to know what’s happening here because that’s completely unsafe,” said Melanie Mann, one of the roughly 50 DCFS employees who staff the hotline. She said she has turned in her resignation, effective Dec. 1, after six years with the agency. … Emails and direct messages shared with the Illuminator lay out details of the decision to place online reports on the back burner and the scramble that followed to shrink the stack.
The online portal is a crucial tool the Department of Children and Family Services uses to ensure reports of child abuse and neglect are addressed:
The DCFS online portal was set up for mandatory reporters, which include first responders, hospital staff, daycare workers and others who frequently interact with children. … Online reporting is also a preferred option for individuals who aren’t comfortable sharing sensitive, graphic details about child abuse with someone over the phone, Mann said.
The Illuminator’s team reports on steps DCFS took to address the online backlog, which was cleared as of Wednesday:
Last week, the hotline staff was asked to volunteer for overtime to tackle the online portal backlog, though they could only be compensated with paid time off, rather than extra pay, according to DCFS emails. Overtime became mandatory Monday after the volunteer approach didn’t eliminate the backlog.
Louisiana’s best and worst economic incentives
Louisiana doles out hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives each year that are designed to spur economic growth. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Jonah Meadows asked state policy experts on the best and worst incentives. Here’s what Invest in Louisiana’s Jan Moller had to say:
The one that I think is the worst is really ITEP, the Industrial Tax Exemption Program. We have a nonelected state board giving away local property taxes with little to no input from the local citizens and elected officials, who are, in many cases, losing tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. We are literally giving tax breaks to companies that make investments that kill jobs. … In general, the best economic development incentive that Louisiana or any state could have is an educated, high-quality workforce, strong reliable infrastructure, safe streets, good schools and the kind of communities where people want to move in.
Medicaid patients struggle to see doctors
Many people with low incomes who get health coverage through the Medicaid program struggle to find doctors to treat them. While insurers often boast of a robust network of health care professionals, the reality can be much different. The Wall Street Journal’s team reports:
Some doctors are erroneously shown in states or cities where they don’t actually work. Others won’t book appointments for Medicaid patients, who typically are far less lucrative than those with employer coverage. Some medical practices limit slots allotted for Medicaid visits, or simply won’t take new Medicaid patients. … “It’s a fake system,” said Elisha Yaghmai, a Kansas doctor who runs a company that provides physicians to rural hospitals. “It doesn’t actually get them care.”
The result is long waits for service, and in many cases patients simply skip much-needed care:
John Whitfield, a 60-year-old Medicaid patient from Waco, Texas, said his takeaway from a recent attempt to schedule a medical appointment was: “Don’t get sick.”
Louisiana’s historic school scores could be short lived
Louisiana schools achieved historically high scores on the state’s grading system in 2025. But these scores could be harder to replicate next year due to recent changes to the current system by the state’s top education board. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Patrick Wall explains:
The changes are especially dramatic for high schools: If the revamped system had been in effect this year, 76% would have received lower grades than what they earned under the current system. … [State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley] also said this year’s results underscore the need for the overhauled rating system, arguing that the high school scores in particular do not accurately reflect student achievement. Just 35% of Louisiana high school students met grade-level benchmarks on this year’s state English, math and science tests combined — yet 70% of high schools earned an A or B grade.
Not everyone is a fan of the new grading system:
But many Louisiana educators have slammed the revised system, arguing that it puts too much weight on test scores while devaluing measures of college-and-career readiness. … [Superintendent of the St. Charles Parish school system Ken Oertling’s] district earned its first A this year. But under the new rating system, the district would have received a B and a few middle and high schools would have dropped from A’s or B’s to C’s. “It’s frustrating,” he said. “With the flip of a switch,” Oertling added, many grades will fall next year.
Wall explains how the new system will work:
The revised system aims to streamline and simplify school grades. It replaces an elaborate point system with easier-to-understand percentages, which show what share of students met each goal. … Proponents of the overhaul, including Louisiana business leaders and education advocacy groups, say it will boost student achievement and narrow the gaps between groups.
Number of the Day
$26,748 – Annual Affordable Care Act premium increase for a 60-year-old couple with income of $85,000 living in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Louisiana congressional district if enhanced premium tax credits expire at the end of this year. (Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)