John Charles White was the Louisiana state superintendent of education. White announced his resignation on January 8, 2020, effective March 11, 2020. White was appointed to the state superintendent position in January 2012 by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. That year he launched Louisiana Believes., the state’s plan to ensure every child is on track to college or a professional career. In the time since, White has worked to unify the state’s fragmented early childhood system., to modernize curriculum., to professionalize the preparation of educators., to provide pathways to prosperity for all high school graduates., and to provide families with expansive school options irrespective of their financial means. Louisiana Believes includes nationally recognized initiatives.. such as Early Childhood Networks, Louisiana Teacher Leaders, English language arts Curriculum Guidebooks, the Believe and Prepare Teacher Residency, and Jump Start career education. Superintendent White and his team have also led the post-Katrina renovation and unification of schools in New Orleans and the creation of the Baton Rouge Achievement Zone. Louisiana’s class of 2018 included 5,000 more graduates than did the class of 2012. Five thousand more students in that class earned the state’s TOPS scholarship, and 5,000 more enrolled in college after graduating high school. In that time, the number of Louisiana students earning Advanced Placement early college credits has increased by 167 percent, and the state leads the nation in the percentage of high school seniors completing an application for higher education financial aid. Prior to being named State Superintendent, White served as Superintendent of the Louisiana Recovery School District. He previously worked under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein as Deputy Chancellor for the New York City Department of Education and served as Executive Director of Teach For America – Chicago and Teach For America – New Jersey. He began his career as an English teacher at William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. White’s writings on education have been published in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Beast, The Hill, and the Brookings Institution’s Evidence Speaks. White received a B.A. in English with distinction from the University of Virginia and a Master's in Public Administration from New York University. He serves as chairman of the independent non-profit advocacy organization Chiefs for Change, co-founder and chairman of Propel America, and Academic Visitor to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
