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Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Louisiana Educator: Voucher and Charter Abuses

Louisiana Educator: Voucher and Charter Abuses:


Voucher and Charter Abuses

The Baton Rouge Advocate carries a story this morning that stumbles upon a common practice of both voucher and charter schools called skimming. This story is about a child who received a voucher to attend a religious school in Ascension Parish. Upon attempting to enroll her child in the school, the parent found out that the school required an entrance interview and the taking of an enrollment test. Following the testing, the parent was notified by the school that her child would be required to repeat the 4th grade in order to be accepted by the school. The student had passed the 4th grade LEAP which normally is the main criteria for promotion to the 5th grade, yet the voucher school would not honor the previous placement of the student. As a result the parent will probably choose not to enroll her child in the voucher school.

These practices (the entrance interview and grade repeat requirements) allow a school to skim only the most