Race to the Top - II

Part I

Kenneth Leithman ('47) first ran for political office at age 33.

• Not happy with the way the Jefferson Parish School Board mismanaged the system, Ken ran for the Gretna-Harvey position on the 17-member board. He won despite opposition from the poliltical establishment.
• In a process that would repeat itself at a higher level of government, Ken joined with others to effect permanent changes. "We reduced the board to eleven members, then seven."
• Having gained the confidence of the voters, the reformed board passed a sales tax to finance a teacher pay raise and a bond issue for new schools and repairs.
• Leithman served from 1964-8 during the period when Jefferson schools integrated.

In 1968, Ken was approached to run for one of the Jefferson positions in the state legislature.

• All six spots were elected on one parish-wide ballot (a system a Federal judge would overturn as discriminatory to minorities).
• Ken finished fourth and began a four-year term in Baton Rouge during John McKeithen's second term as governor.

Governor John McKeithen with Representative Ken Leithman

Leithman joined a group of other newly-elected legislators to form what the press dubbed "The Young Turks."

• The Turks advocated spending cuts, a decrease in the number of state employees, and reducing the amount of bonded indebtedness. (Sound familiar in this Tea Party era?)
• They also changed the House rules to stop lobbyists and other non-legislators from going onto the floor.
• Starting in 1972, Ken was Speaker Pro-Tempore, the first in Louisiana history. Previously, the Speaker would call on any legislator to take the gavel in his absence

Among the hundreds of bills he authored in 16 years in the legislature, Ken ranks these four as his top achievements.

1. Special Education Funding. Previously, special ed students were taught in trailers and did not mix with the rest of the student body. Governor Edwin Edwards backed the measure despite its $88 million price tag. 22 other states modeled their own legislation on the Louisiana bill.
2. Mississippi River Bridge. One of Ken's first initiatives when he took office, the project took seven years to clear all hurdles and gain approval.
3. Westbank Elevated Expressway. This passed only because it was included in the total State Highway Program.
4. Aid for Private Schools. The bill passed on the second try after it was redrawn to prohibit discrimination in schools receiving state funds.

Ken's major regret from his time in the legislature happened at the 1973-4 Constitutional Convention.

• He served as a delegate at the historic convention that rewrote Louisiana's Constitution that was based on the Napoleonic Code.
• "I went all out for a single board of education." Although he believed Louisiana needed a single flagship university, the LSU alumni opposed the single board.
• As a result, the convention established five boards of education, a structure that now hampers the reorganization of higher education in Louisiana during a financial crisis.

Ken and Cynthia are the proud grandparents of one Crusader grad, Zachary Karam ('07), and two current students, senior Nicholas Karam and freshman Christian Karam.

Ken and Cynthia Leithman with grandson Christian Karam