By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana students enrolled in the state’s expanded school voucher program should soon learn whether union bosses will succeed in their effort to send them back to failing public schools.
The state’s school boards association and two largest teachers unions – the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Educators – sued the state after lawmakers expanded the availability of private school vouchers to students in any school rated a C, D, of F by the state accountability system.
District Court Judge Time Kelley ruled in November that the voucher program, and the funding mechanism that supports it, are unconstitutional because the money is “constitutionally mandated to be allocated to public elementary and secondary schools,” the Associated Press reports.
The ruling has left voucher parents who have already enrolled their children in private schools wondering how they’ll keep them there if the state is forced to stop funding the vouchers.
The state has appealed Kelley’s decision to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Arguments are scheduled to begin March 19.
It’s clear that Louisiana’s education establishment is simply trying to protect its own neck. Public school and union officials are concerned about losing students and state fund tied to them.
But the voucher program is a very good deal for students and the taxpayers who fund their education.
Louisiana spends about $5,300 per voucher to send students to private schools, which is far less than the per-pupil aid the state sends to public schools. In other words, Louisiana’s voucher program saves taxpayers money and helps struggling students escape from lackluster or downright miserable schools.
The only potential losers are public school officials and union bosses who rely on government schools for their livelihood. Unfortunately, their livelihood is their top priority, and student needs are a distant second.
The lower court ruling was “a travesty for parents across Louisiana who want nothing more than for their children to have an equal opportunity at receiving a great education,” and “sadly ignores the rights of families who do not have the means necessary to escape failing schools,” according to the AP.
A lot of good people are hoping the state’s Supreme Court agrees.
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