1,100 BR voucher slots

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Arthur D. Lauck / 00029904a
Advocate Staff Photo by Arthur D. Lauck Hosanna Christian Academy has made available 200 seats for students who qualify for state subsidies to leave troubled public schools for private and parochial schools.






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Private schools offer seats in program  

by Will Sentell

Capitol news bureau

35 Comments

Baton Rouge-area private and parochial schools have offered more than 1,100 seats for students who hope to escape troubled public schools using state vouchers, officials said Tuesday.

The aid, which backers call scholarships, is supposed to offset all or most of the tuition and fees charged by the non-public schools.

State Superintendent of Education John White said Tuesday statewide interest — about 5,100 new slots were offered — exceeds the initial interest shown in other states with similar programs, including Ohio and Indiana.

“We have a strong start,” White said.

Melanie Verges, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, said schools in the eight-parish region made available 400 classroom seats.

“Philosophically, we believe in parental choice in education,” Verges said in a telephone interview. “We believe that part of our ministry is to serve the community.”

The program stems from one of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s two key bills to overhaul public school operations, which state lawmakers approved in April.

The aid applies to low- and middle-income students who attend “C,” “D” and “F” schools, as rated by the state, or for first-time kindergarten students who meet the income and other criteria.

First priority goes to students in “D” and “F” schools.

If applications exceed seats available they will be allocated through a lottery.

Family income cannot exceed $57,625 for a family of four; $67,525 for a family of five and $77,425 for a family of six.

Applications began on Tuesday.

Forms can be obtained from participating schools or online at http://www.LAK-12SP.com. School lists can be obtained by calling (877) 453-2721.

Applications are due by June 29.

Families can rank up to five schools on the form.

White said the average tuition of schools on the list is about $6,100.

He said state school aid averages about $8,500 per child, which means families that qualify likely would not have to come up with any money for tuition or required fees.

Families would be responsible for uniform costs and optional fees.

Schools that take part are not required to provide transportation.

About 380,000 of Louisiana’s roughly 700,000 public school students are eligible for the aid.

White said earlier that he thought about 2,000 students would apply in the first year. He said Tuesday that number may be slightly higher.

Backers call the aid an option for students trapped in failing public schools.

Teacher union leaders and other opponents say that vouchers will damage an already struggling public school system.

They have also promised a lawsuit over what they call the unconstitutional use of public school dollars for some students to attend private and parochial schools.

“This is going to be a litigated matter,” Louisiana Federation of Teachers President Steve Monaghan said during a Louisiana House committee hearing Tuesday on a related issue.

In the Baton Rouge area the top participant is Hosanna Christian Academy, which is offering 200 seats.

Three schools in Ascension Parish are making available 159 slots for students who get the aid.

Another 39 are available in West Baton Parish and Zachary.

Slots offered by schools in the East Baton Rouge portion of the diocese range from two at St. Michael the Archangel High School to 100 at Redemptorist Elementary School.

Verges said tuition ranges from $4,000-$4,500 in elementary schools to about $6,500 in high schools.

“There won’t be any gap to fill,” she said of students and families who qualify to attend one of the diocese schools.

About 15,000 students attend diocese schools now.

The state Department of Education said that 7,450 scholarship seats are available statewide, including 2,300 in a New Orleans program that has operated since 2008.

They account for 125 schools in 33 parishes, including 57 in East Baton Rouge and Orleans parishes.

Only one public school offered seats for voucher students. It is Park Vista Elementary School in Opelousas, which said it has 42 seats available in kindergarten, first and second grades.

The new state law allows public schools rated “A” or “B” by the state to take part in the program.

White said the fact that this the first year for the aid held down interest by public and some private schools.

The state has about 1,300 public schools for its 700,000 students.

Another 120,000 students attend private and parochial schools.

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Comments (35)


1) Comment by twinkie1cat - 05/06/2012

Why are "C" schools considered "failing"? That is a crock. A "C" has always meant SATISFACTORY. You know, not great, but not bad. I think including them was just a ploy by Jindal to include more schools in his privatization effort. There is nothing wrong with a C if that is your best!

2) Comment by twinkie1cat - 04/06/2012

Phil, you have a point on the transportation. CATS is going to have to beef up its services real quick. It will be a very good way to help CATS become solvent. In Atlanta kids frequently ride Marta to school and the schools, public schools, give them bus passes (Marta Cards). Atlanta did not even have but a few school buses until about 15 years ago except for Special Education and M to M transfers. Then they had to contract because they closed down a lot of the neighborhood schools, especially the elementaries so the the kids had farther to travel and could no longer walk to school. After that the contract drivers found out they were making a lot less money, had a lot more hassles carrying regular students, and no benefits as part time workers while the special education drivers were full time system employees with benefits. So they went on strike for 3 days and the special ed. drivers joined them. By the end of the year Atlanta had a whole fleet of regular education buses. But a lot of the kids, especially high school kids, still ride Marta. In fact the route that went to Southside High School actually went up into the bus lane and dropped off the kids. Teachers and paraprofessionals also rode the bus. Sometimes very young children rode Marta. I remember a little girl in a Catholic uniform dropping off her brother at the Headstart center. A teacher would be at the bus stop waiting for him. She was only about 8.

3) Comment by twinkie1cat - 04/06/2012

Yes, Ex-Louisianian: I think that would shut down the voucher program VERY QUICKLY if some Islamic schools offered voucher slots. This place is so conservative that the people would rise up thinking that they were training terrorists on taxpayer money. Go for it Muslims!

4) Comment by twinkie1cat - 04/06/2012

Vouchers are a ploy by Jindal to privatize the public schools so that for profit businesses can make money off of our children's education. They are going to be too expensive for the children who need them most to attend, the same way the government excludes poor children in other countries, by requiring uniforms that fit and private transportation that the children do not have. So eventually they just won't go to school. Actually, the Catholics already do this by requiring specific uniforms for their schools and charging for other things that the publics cannot. A few decades ago, the Catholics got away with charging by requiring the students to pay for their desks. This came from a teacher in Atlanta who was from Trinidad/Tobago. Kids too poor to pay for their desk had to sit on the floor in humiliation or did not attend.

5) Comment by twinkie1cat - 04/06/2012

I have questions about the credentials of the teachers in some of these religious schools, even beyond the parochials. I know some of their teachers don't because I had an assistant whose daughter had a teacher who wasn't. Some of the fundamentalist schools operate on a shoestring and have some bizarre beliefs that they impose on the children. There was one in New Orleans that a teacher who could not handle inner city students taught for where the teachers had NO degrees at all and where one of them told her that a person could not be a Christian unless they were also a Republican. Some of the fundie schools are just a shade more organized than home schooling and, in fact, use a home school curriculum called ABEKA. I am glad my child is grown because I would not subject him to either a school that had him decorating statues of the Virgin Mary (as was in an article in the Gonzalez paper), reciting the rosary or even studying it any more than than I would want him learning to bow to Mecca 5 times a day.

6) Comment by twinkie1cat - 04/06/2012

The question of non-religious private schools, I heard there was only one, Runnels, which was also the only school that did not force uniforms on the children. That came from a lesbian who sent her kids there. I notice they are not on the list of voucher accepting schools. I believe Dunham is actually for kids with "learning differences" which means they don't quite make it into special education, but have difficulties.

7) Comment by sharpie - 24/05/2012

"If Mr. Jindal is so keen on this voucher program, why isn't the LSU Lab School offering any seats?" This is OUTRAGEOUS. Why hasn't anyone asked this school point blank. What a pathetic joke. Hypocrite.

8) Comment by 8.3 - 24/05/2012

This will be tied up in courts for year and separation of church and state will prevail. Why shouldn't a sect of Wiccans start their own school to get government vouchers (funding)? or tree worshipers? or mystical snake eaters? This cannot stand. If the folks in these religious schools feel so strongly about giving "scholarships' to underprivileged students why haven't they been doing it without government interference? Dawson is like the many who are basing their conclusions on innuendo and rumor, if private schools did such a great job of educating underprivileged, abused and neglected kids, lets see the evidence. Actually, the evidence shows that Louisiana education, public and private is at the bottom of the educational scale and is not preparing its students to compete on a global scale which is obviously what the future will require. he school problem is only a symptom of the far greater social problem, rather like putting a Band -aid on a cancerous wart. A confused and irrational ideology based on flawed and biased "research" statistics designed to "prove' foregone conclusions is criminally negligent if not malicious. Do our public schools have a problem? Does our (Louisiana) society have a problem? Obviously but reality does not bow to ideology, the reverse is always true but somehow those in charge and those who bother to vote are living in lala land. Meanwhile, the deterioration continues, like painting over rust. But then again, the liberty blatherers willfully suppress all and any reasonably presented opposition, all the while regurgitating the rights and free speech reflux in complete contradiction to any semblance of American "values".

9) Comment by ex-louisianian - 24/05/2012

Baton Rouge needs Islamic schools to accept the rest of the voucher castoffs.

10) Comment by Dawson - 24/05/2012

"Naturally, low income students will score lower on standardized tests."....Why is this so "natural"? Why are low income and minority students so difficult and so expensive to educate? The premise that if a kid is not white and the family doesn't make as much money as others means this kid needs twice the funding and special programs to be educated is ridiculous.

11) Comment by Dawson - 23/05/2012

@teacherguy...that's an easy one. Because if the government supported real school choice and offered the vouchers to everyone the public school system would be obsolete because few would attend it. Most of the opponents of this legislation don't have an interest in the kids, its political. We all know EBR is a failure yet the attitude is why only save a few? I agree let's save em all and offer real school choice and let parents have total control over where their kids go to school. Vouchers for all.

12) Comment by phil - 23/05/2012

I read this kind of fast, so did I miss the part that explains how 1,100 public school students with vouchers are going to get to their new schools? Are we looking at 1,100 more autos driven by parents being on the roads in the morning and in the afternoon? If school buses will transport them, who pays? Maybe the students can ride those new CATS buses?

13) Comment by RationalOne - 23/05/2012

“'Philosophically, we believe in parental choice in education,' Verges said in a telephone interview. 'We believe that part of our ministry is to serve the community.'” Yeah, she's rubbing her mitts together thinking about all the new kids her schools can indoctrinate into their ancient mythology while the kids' former schools decline even further.

14) Comment by squiggly - 23/05/2012

@SuzanneMS, we don't know that the private schools are any better. That's why I sent my kids to public school. When my eldest was getting ready to start pre-K, I called several private schools and asked that exact question. None of them could answer my questions satisfactorily. I asked how do I know that my kid would receive a better education there than in public school. They said that there students do well on tests. I asked which tests and how do they compare to the state tests. I could not get a straight answer from any of them. So I decided to send my kids to public school and closely monitor their progress. I have been pleased with the education that my kids have received. Since private schools don't have to report to government like public schools do, the data is scarce regarding their students' performance. So the fact that many people believe that private schools are better, is just a perception that is not based on any data.

15) Comment by squiggly - 23/05/2012

@1ryben, I was under the assumption that The Dunham School was not a religious school. I stand corrected. A quick search of registered private schools on the NCES website, shows that there are only 10 secular private schools in EBR. In my earlier post, I stated that I don't believe in the "failing school" philosophy. School grades are based primarily on one instrument, standardized test scores, which have been proven to reflect the students' socio-economic status, consistently. Naturally, low income students will score lower on standardized tests. This is not a reflection of quality of education that the school is providing. So, to answer your question, I would choose to send my kids to the "failing" school, because I don't believe in the Islamic teachings. However, my kids would excel in said "failing" school, because of my economic status. My son, just graduated from a "D" school, with honors, scored 25 on the ACT, and will be attending LSU in the fall. My daughter is an honor student at the same "D" school, and scores at the mastery level in everything except social students (basic). My kids came up through the EBR public school system, so I'm talking from experience.

16) Comment by 1ryben - 23/05/2012

@squiggy, please tell me which school on the list is a private, secular school. Again, what's my choices? Failing school or Christian school? Which would you choose if your choice was a failing public school or an Islamic school? Now don't say I'm bashing Islam, I have the same contempt for all religions. All. I don't think I am going too far to say that most people would be up in arms if that was their only choices. Would you think most would be okay sending their child to an Islamic school? Imagine the uproar. Prayer 6 times a day. Hijab?

17) Comment by DMJ - 23/05/2012

Don't engage Being Stupid. He's not an actual moron. He's just parodying one. It's funny, when you think about it in proper context. Like Colbert...

18) Comment by Being_Stupid - 23/05/2012

When given the choice between Free Market Capitalism and Government Micromanaged Socialism, the masses will always choose Free Market Capitalism. The Teacher Union Czar, Government Bureaucrats, ACLU-Atheists, and Democrat Party Elites (who always send their own kids to Private Schools) are losing their power, money, and thought control over the people.

19) Comment by SuzanneMS - 23/05/2012

I'll ask again, how do we know that these schools offer a better education? Where are their letter grades? How do their students perform on the standardized tests? Oh -- right. Their students don't take the standardized tests. Being_Stupid and others of that ilk simply assumes that all private schools are superior simply by virtue of being private, just as they insist that all public schools are failing, despite the fact that there are 'A' and 'B' schools. Problem is, squiggly, that the state is doing absolutely nothing to improve education in the public schools. As more and more money is diverted away from public schools to private schools, parents' choice will become limited to sending their kids to an utterly deplorable public school where they will receive no education whatsoever or sending them to a private school, which has a high likelihood of being a religious school. The money that the government dedicates to educating a child does not come solely -- or even primarily -- from the parents of that child. How many parents pay $8500/year/child in taxes? Not those making less than the incomes listed above. That family of four would have to pay at least $17,000 a year in taxes dedicated to education. That money comes from all of us -- and I strongly object to my tax money paying for private religious education.

20) Comment by smith47 - 23/05/2012

Relax. I understand that it's been deemed acceptable constitutionally. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

21) Comment by timesright - 23/05/2012

Could these schools just be trying to keep their schools open on public money?

22) Comment by squiggly - 23/05/2012

smith47, I realize that religious education is not just religion class. Religious schools are there to facilitate their beliefs into the lifestyle of its students. However, it's the parent's choice whether or not to send their kids to a religious school. The government is not forcing the kids to go to a religious school. As for your tax dollars, the government dedicates a specified sum of money to educate each child. At the end of the day, that child's parents should decide what type of school they want their child to attend. It should not be left up to a 3rd party to make that decision for the parents. Too many people are under the mistaken assumption that the 1st amendment protects them from any religion at all. The 1st amendment guarantees that the government cannot impose a state religion upon its citizens. End of story.

23) Comment by Being_Stupid - 23/05/2012

Parents and Students FINALLY have better options for a better education. Nobody is forcing these Parents and Students to attend Private Schools of their choosing.

24) Comment by squiggly - 23/05/2012

HMaltravers, the 5100 slots is only the beginning. Bobby's intent is to totally eliminate public education. Each year, more and more vouchers will be offered, until all students are on vouchers.

25) Comment by HMaltravers - 23/05/2012

5,100 slots for an estimated 380,000 eligible students. Hmmm.

26) Comment by DMJ - 23/05/2012

Here you go, private schools. Have some public money, courtesy of Bobby J.

27) Comment by smith47 - 23/05/2012

Squiggly, do you think religious instruction is limited to only religion class? What about assemblies and morning prayers? What about science classes that teach intelligent design? Social studies/civics classes that make it clear that families are husband/wife/kids? What about schools where the priest is clearly the head of the school and women are not allowed to be priests? Religious instruction doesn't begin and end at the religion class door in private schools. I speak from experience, and I don't want to pay for that for someone else. The religious groups didn't support this simply because they care about the education of poor children. Also, how many children really want to be the ones to explain to the others why they don't go to religion class or school church services?

28) Comment by teacherguy - 23/05/2012

First, why are vouchers limited to certain income levels? If we are going to do vouchers, hard working tax paying parents that exceed the maximum voucher income level deserve to have their tax dollars diverted to any school they desire. Second, they have decided that schools accepting public vouchers will be given a letter grade, but it will not be using the same "ruler" as the public schools. This will apply to coming charter schools. Third, if my tax money will allow a school to teach some students Intelligent Design as a plausible creation of the universe, but I prefer to let my kid ride a school bus to the local public school...then he should be offered the same curriculum as the private school I can't drive him to. Fourth, who gets to keep the voucher money after the Oct. 1 "pay day" when these voucher kids get kicked out of the "choice" schools? They WILL return to the local public school which will NOT receive $1 for teaching him from Oct. 2-May 25. Why? Why do we live in a state that prefers to repeat the charter/voucher failures from the other states?

29) Comment by squiggly - 23/05/2012

First, let me say that I don't support this voucher system. I think that it will have the effect of getting poor white kids out of the public schools, so that they don't have to associate with black kids. That's the reason that transportation will not provided, to prevent truly poor kids, who often don't have a family car, from participating. That being said, the religious argument against it is lame. The government is not forcing kids to attend a religious school. It's the parent's choice. Anyone who does not want their kids to receive religious instruction are free to either not participate or send their kid to a secular private school. I personally, think that this "failing school" philosophy is a bunch of baloney.

30) Comment by smith47 - 23/05/2012

The Gene Mills Academy for Righteous Learning will be opening any day now.

31) Comment by 1ryben - 23/05/2012

This piece of legislation is terrible on so many levels. My child is in a failing school but family income barely exceeds the maximum to qualify (how I work hard to barely provide a modest middle class lifestyle). This means my child is denied the chance to get a quality education? Where is my choice? We are not Christian and do not want our children indoctrinated into the Christian faith, or any faith for that matter. This article is not about religion, but the Constitution is pretty clear that the state can not endorse any religion. By providing public money to support parochial schools, the state is doing just that. Seems like my only "choice" is to drive my kid to Opelousas every morning.

32) Comment by Tally - 23/05/2012

So now my tax money is going to be used to indoctrinate students at religious institutions under the guise of "aid". If Mr. Jindal is so keen on this voucher program, why isn't the LSU Lab School offering any seats?

33) Comment by SuzanneMS - 23/05/2012

Clearly White has already decided that the bill allowing MFP money to follow the child to a private school will be passed and won't be found unconstitutional. Other questions -- are they allowed to go to just any private school, or does it have to be a private school that outperforms the public school? How will parents know whether the private school is superior to the public school? Where are the letter grades for private schools? Will children who attend these parochial schools be forced to participate in religious instruction?

34) Comment by lovemykids - 23/05/2012

Do the private and religious schools keep the extra money? Is religious doctrine going to be supported with my tax dollars? Why do children (already in private schools) from failing school districts whose families struggle with private school tuition not allowed to apply? Lots of questions? Lots of questions for the courts to decide.

35) Comment by bettergovt - 23/05/2012

I thought the voucher was for $1500. What's all this "Won't be any gap to fill" and "State aid is $8500" talk?