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{{Infobox officeholder

|name=Cecil James Picard​

|office=[[Louisiana]] State Senator for<br>District 25 (Acadia, Calcasieu,<br> Cameron, Jefferson Davis,<br> and Vermilion parishes)​

|term_start=1979​

|succeeded3=Paul G. Pastorek​

|birth_date=January 1, 1938

|death_place=[[Baton Rouge]], Louisiana​

|death_date=February 15, 2007 (aged 69)

|occupation=[[Educator]] ​

|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]​

Sam Houston State University ([[Huntsville, Texas]])​}}

Picard was born to Romain Picard (1908-1966) and Evangeline M. Picard (1912–1990). He grew up on the grounds of Maurice High School because his father was the principal, and the Vermilion Parish School Board provided housing as part of the compensation. As a boy, Picard often gazed into the windows of the school, and although he was still too young to attend classes, he wondered what was happening inside the building. Despite his misgivings about a career in education, Picard graduated from Maurice High School and thereafter procured a bachelor's degree in upper elementary education program at the University of Louisiana at [[Lafayette]], then Southwestern Louisiana Institute and later the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He obtained a [[Master of Arts]] degree in school administration from Sam Houston State University (then Teacher's College) in [[Huntsville, Texas|Huntsville]], [[Texas]].<ref name=obit>Picard obituary, ''The [[Monroe, Louisiana|Monroe]] News-Star,'' February 20, 2007.</ref>

==Both houses of the state legislature==

​

Picard retired as principal in 1980 when he entered the state Senate, but his interest in education continued. Picard was elected to his first full term as senator in the fall of 1979 and again in 1983, and 1987, when he defeated fellow Democrat Wade Vincent, 16,933 votes (73 percent) to 6,203 (27 percent).<ref>Louisiana Secretary of State, Election Returns, October 24, 1987.</ref> In the primaries of 1991 and 1995, Picard ran unopposed. He left early in his last elected term to assume the superintendency.​

Picard was named superintendent by the elected Board of Elementary and Secondary Education with the support of his former senatorial colleague, then [[Governor]] [[Mike Foster|Murphy J. Foster, Jr.]], a Democrat turned [[Republican Party|Republican]] from the [[sugar]]-growing St. Mary Parish. At the time that he became superintendent, Picard headed the Senate Education Committee and had just lost a bid to become president of the state senate, the position instead went to fellow Democrat [[Randy Ewing]] of Quitman in Jackson Parish in north Louisiana.​<ref name=findagrave/>​

Governor Foster said that his friend Picard "made a lot of headway [toward improving education]. He did a good job, and I never heard anyone say he didn't."​

As his health declined, Picard participated in an experimental drug program in a vain attempt to counter the disease, technically termed [[amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]]. He continued working at his office until November 2006. After that, he worked from his residence until he was incapacitated. Picard had planned to retire on May 1, 2007. At the time of his death in a Lafayette hospital, the BESE board was already seeking a temporary successor.​

Walter Clyde Lee, Sr. (born 1934), the former superintendents for DeSoto and Caddo parishes, said that Picard was "the best politician I'd ever seen, and he'd chuckle and say, 'I'm not a politician. I'm a statesman.'" Lee said that he considered Picard to have been the most effective of all Louisiana superintendents. Picard was particularly known for the implementation of an [[accountability]] program that was recognized nationwide.​

Then Louisiana State Representative [[Jane H. Smith]], a Republican from [[Bossier City]], and herself a former superintendent in Bossier Parish, described Picard as "a warrior and a fighter. He was right there until the very end, doing what he could. He had a passion for the job."​​

Picard's chief assistant, Carole Wallin, said that he was "taken from us before he accomplished all of his dreams. . . . He was always dreaming of things to do to improve education."​ Wallin recalled that Picard was the principal when Maurice High School was [[Segregation|desegregated]]. Years later, his first act as superintendent was to begin a tour of the state's school districts. The levels of [[poverty]] he encountered appalled him, she said. Picard hence decided that perhaps the best way to lift children was to begin teaching them at an early age. That resulted in the LA4 pre-school program.​

Former state Representative Jimmy Dale Long, Sr. (1931-2016), of [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]], a member of the [[Earl Long|Long]] political dynasty who was the chairman of the University of Louisiana System board of supervisors, headed the House Education Committee when Picard was chairman of the corresponding Senate committee. He said that the two developed a working and friendly relationship. "Cecil and I authored a raft of education reform," Long said in his eulogy to Picard. Long said that Picard was comfortable with himself, and it showed. . . . He told me, 'People believe honesty, and they're not easily misled,' which is how he led his life. . . . Cecil could get things done. His political legacy is [that] he made sure Louisiana's children have the opportunity for a better education."​

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Educators]]

[[Category:Politicians]]

[[Category:State Senators]]

[[Category:Democrats]]