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Thursday, June 14, 2012

State Should Get Tough On Voucher Schools

State Should Get Tough On Voucher Schools:


State Should Get Tough On Voucher Schools

Giving parents more school choices and helping students leave failing schools for better ones are definitely worthwhile goals. Both have been repeated often by Gov. Bobby Jindal to promote his voucher program that he calls Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence.
Unfortunately, the governor and John White, his state superintendent of education, appear to have put “the cart before the horse.” Based on recent revelations, parents can’t be guaranteed their students will end up in better schools than those they are leaving.
Important questions should have been answered before schools were approved to accept transfer students from low-income families. The tuition they will need to attend nonpublic schools will be provided by the same formula that uses state and local money to fund Louisiana’s public schools.
Investigative work by newspapers statewide reveals that many of the schools that have applied to participate in