[StBernard] School Vouchers Gain Ground

[Westley Annis]

School Vouchers Gain Ground


Wall Street Journal
Stephanie Banchero
4/11/12

"Louisiana is poised to establish the nation's most expansive system of
school choice by adopting a package of vouchers and other tools that would
give many parents control over the use of tax dollars to educate their
children.

The initiative would effectively redefine vouchers, which have typically
helped lower-income public-school students pay for private schools. Vouchers
could now also be used by students to pay for state-approved apprenticeships
at local businesses, as well as college courses and private online classes,
while they are still in public schools.

The legislation would also pave the way for the rapid growth of charter
schools-public schools run by nongovernment entities-and make Louisiana one
of a handful of states to adopt a 'parent trigger' provision, letting
parents vote to convert their low-performing schools into charters.
Louisiana's legislature passed the sweeping education package last week, and
Gov. Bobby Jindal, the Republican architect of the overhaul, hopes to sign
it into law next week, said a spokesman.

'This is about giving parents choice and about fostering competition across
the education system,' said John White, Louisiana's superintendent of
education, who helped design the initiative. 'We are trying to incentivize
people outside the four walls of the school building to help us create a
work force that can compete.'.

Proponents say vouchers provide options that parents need, especially in
places with poor-performing schools, and save taxpayers money.

'Parents are getting to the point where they want-and deserve-a wide variety
of options for their children, and they are seeing a fiscal situation where
they want their legislators to spend the money more wisely,' [Robert] Enlow
[Friedman Foundation president] said.

Mr. Jindal's overhaul would give Louisiana one the nation's largest voucher
programs, expanding a small program launched in New Orleans in 2009 that
serves about 1,800 low-income students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
The new system would offer vouchers to an estimated 380,000 poor and
middle-class students in low-performing schools.

Torrianna Treaudo, a New Orleans mother, said her neighborhood school was so
unsafe and academically inferior that she considered home-schooling her two
sons. Instead, she signed up for the voucher program three years ago, and
now her sons attend a small Catholic school 22 miles away.

'I went through the New Orleans public schools myself and I know how bad
they can be,' said Ms. Treaudo, who dropped out of high school and later got
her GED. 'The voucher saved our lives and gives my boys a chance for an
easier life than I've had.'"

Read more in the Wall Street Journal here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303624004577338131609745296.ht
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