The view from Robert Mann’s ivory tower in Baton Rouge does not offer a clear perspective on the educational successes unfolding in New Orleans and around our state.

Louisiana Representative Robert E. Billiot, a Democrat from District 83 in Jefferson Parish, recently withdrew his bill which was designed to imposed a 1-percent sales tax on televisions and video game equipment. That money would have gone toward building playgrounds and fighting childhood obesity. Here is another example of a legislator thinking that he knows...