Students in New Orleans recently celebrated the end of the school year and all the milestones that come with it. This was Fateama Fulmore’s first full school year as the city’s superintendent.
She recently sat down for an interview with WWNO and WRKF’s education reporter, Aubri Juhasz.
The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
AUBRI JUHASZ, HOST:
Fulmore joined the district in 2022 as a deputy superintendent and took over as superintendent when Avis Williams left two years later. Williams' departure was abrupt. The district was facing a deficit after overestimating its revenue. Fulmore says today the district is in much better shape with new safeguards in place.
FATEAMA FULMORE: One of the things that we've done is bring our charter CFOs into the mix. Making sure that they have a seat at the table each month so that monthly engagement and the establishment of that charter finance committee, where we have other eyes.
I would say the second thing we're doing is working better with our city partners, having our chief financial officer sit with the city's chief financial officer to line up how we look at the numbers. And yeah, I won't speak too financial, but you understand what I mean. Like, we operate on a fiscal year, they operate on a calendar year, and what those things mean in terms of how the numbers sync up. So we've just been more intentional, more consistent in streamlining our internal efforts and being more transparent.
JUHASZ: Speaking of the city, the school board recently settled ongoing litigation concerning tax revenue, and ultimately, what that means is that the schools will be getting more money, and the city will also be kind of back-paying some of the money that it had taken in the past. How significant is that, to know that there's gonna be more money coming to our schools?
FULMORE: It's huge. I cannot understate how important that is and what it means for learning, for opportunity, for resources for our kids, and for families.
It's monumental, the difference it's going to make in dollars that are flowing to our classrooms. The needs are great within our district. You know, this is where we are, and we have to be able to meet those needs. And we've seen what we were able to do when we had additional dollars pouring into our schools, and the results that our schools were able to get and what our children were able to show about just how smart and talented and brilliant they are.
What we've shown in NOLA Public Schools is that we know how to use the dollars in ways that reach children directly and get great outcomes for children. So this is gonna be, you know, no different. We wanna make sure that our kids have the instructional materials they need, that they have after-school and enrichment opportunities, and that we're able to serve the various needs of our students. I know it's gonna make a difference.
JUHASZ: The additional money that you were talking about that schools have had, and that a lot of leaders say has made a huge difference for them in growing kids, is the federal pandemic relief that schools got. That is not a funding source schools have going forward, so there's an emerging funding gap.
It sounds like with more money from the city, we're backfilling it to some extent, but not all the way. How concerned are you going forward? We've seen incredible growth in our kids here. Can we keep growing at that rate without the same level of investment?
FULMORE: It is extremely difficult to do it without proper investment in our schools. Our teachers and our leaders are the best, but they are not genies in a bottle, magicians or robots. They are human beings who are bringing their best forward every single day, and at some point, you run out of what's within your ability to do with limited resources.
You know, when you burn your people out because they have to work such long hours to close any gaps for what you can't hire for or what you don't have, and you have to keep taking on more. When you can't advance the quality of your instructional materials. You know, all of those things matter.
JUHASZ: We were talking about the growth that we've seen in test scores here in New Orleans, and I think a lot of people know that Louisiana's been leading the country lately.
We had a recent scorecard from researchers at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Stanford, and New Orleans grew student scores more than 98% of other districts across the country.
FULMORE: Let me tell you.
JUHASZ: What’s your reaction to that?
FULMORE: 99th percentile for reading, 98th percentile for math and 98th percentile overall. I say, watch out. New Orleans is on the scene, and people should take note and pay attention to what's happening here. It's something truly special here in New Orleans that we have, and people should not underestimate the talent here or the brilliance of our children.
I know that the uniqueness of our structure oftentimes causes us to kind of be overlooked because people will hone in on, "Oh, well, this individual one." No, we are the public education system for Orleans Parish, and when you look at that as a collective… let me tell you, it's unparalleled performance in terms of what we're seeing here.
I'm proud. You know, I'm grateful that I get to serve alongside leaders who are so dedicated, so committed. I think we're fortunate with the teaching staff that we have, that regardless of where our children come from, what their abilities are, what their needs are, they find ways to make sure that they're learning to their potential.
We haven't arrived. We are not yet where we know we can be, but you can't deny the progress that we're making and the difference that it's having.
JUHASZ: Fatima Fulmore is Superintendent of New Orleans Public Schools. Thank you so much for speaking with me.
FULMORE: Thank you for having me. It’s been a pleasure.
