“Court fight over Louisiana school vouchers isn’t over”
by Mike Hasten
Alexandria Town Talk
July 15, 2012

It’s been an eventful week.

A Baton Rouge judge cleared the way for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s school voucher program to go into effect Aug. 1, the Department of Health and Hospitals approved a budget reduction plan that shifts most of the cuts to the LSU hospitals that provide care largely to the poor and uninsured, and Jindal racked up more miles on the state’s credit card.

It’s not that Judge Tim Kelley approved the voucher plan, which uses public money to fund tuition at private schools. He just agreed with the state’s attorney, Jimmy Faircloth of Pineville, that his hands were tied by a state law that says if a state official declares that a judge’s decision would force a budget deficit, the judge can’t do it.

Kelley saw the flaws in that provision of law before the attorneys from the Louisiana Association of Educators. Louisiana Federation of Teachers and Louisiana School Boards Association had their say.

Anyone could “stick an affidavit in there saying anything you want it to say and you remove my jurisdiction,” Kelley said. “If the certifications are false, there are perjury issues” but that wouldn’t come up until long after the funding was distributed.

And what about those affidavits? Superintendent of Education John C. White’s original one said there would be a $23 million deficit. He filed a second one, along with Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, that says there would be a $3.4 billion deficit — the total amount of school funding.

LAE attorney Brian Blackwell says the law goes against everything that court is supposed to be about. There’s no chance to offer evidence that the affidavits could be false, no chance to cross examine the state officials that claim there would be

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“Voucher demand soars”
by Will Sentell
The Advocate
July 12, 2012

More than 10,000 students have applied for state vouchers to attend private or parochial schools rather than troubled public schools, which is well above initial estimates, officials said Wednesday.

“It is fair to say that the number exceeds the numbers that were anticipated at the outset,” state Superintendent of Education John White told reporters.

White said families will be notified of school assignments in about two weeks, and after a possible lottery when demand exceeds classroom supply.

In addition, private and parochial schools that have proposed huge enrollment increases fueled by the state-financed vouchers — some of which have been the subject of news stories — will face scrutiny before they are approved, White said.

He said those decisions will try to strike a balance between parental demand for classroom seats and the need for schools to grow responsibly.

All the activity stems from legislation pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, and approved by the Legislature in April.

Under the new law, students who attend public schools rated C, D or F by the state, and who meet income requirements, can apply for vouchers that are supposed to finance tuition and mandatory fees at about 125 private and parochial schools that are offering slots.

About 2,300 students took part in Louisiana’s initial voucher program, which was limited to New Orleans.

White said earlier this year that he expected about 2,000 students to apply for the new vouchers, which Jindal calls scholarships.

But more than 8,000 students have sought the new openings, which means 10,300 students have applied for what officials said earlier were 7,450 existing and new slots statewide.

If applications for specific grades exceed capacity, seats will be awarded through a prioritized lottery during the week of July 16.

One option for students not placed at their top school choice is to

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Vol. 14, No. 26

ALL IS NOT WELL. Delusion is rampant among the status quo when it comes to the state of American education. In Idaho, they fought to get on the November ballot three referenda that, if passed, will annihilate Superintendent Tom Luna’s sweeping reform efforts that could bring about a quality education for all students in the state. As the Wall Street Journal aptly notes, a state like Idaho doesn’t fit the “familiar education narrative of inner-city hopelessness. “That’s where the delusion kicks in. CER’s Jeanne Allen compares Idaho’s attempt to block reform to the Lake Wobegon effect. “In states like this, the assumption is all is well. The reality is they’ve been simply going through the motions for years, and the result is a kind of Third World education status. “Incredibly, after international report after international report, some in Idaho continue to believe in the myth of their grand success. For a reality test, read the Atlantic on Stanford economist Eric Hanushek and colleagues’ study.

NEW JERSEY’S OPPORTUNITY. E3, and others, are pushing for passage of the New Jersey Opportunity Scholarship Act, a pilot corporate tax credit bill designed to fund scholarships for low-income students attending the state’s lowest performing and chronically failing public schools. The battle is furious and your support is needed now so students can quickly transfer from dysfunctional schools to ones that will put them on track to a successful future in college and the world of work. New Jersey can redeem itself by passing this bill after bowing to status quo pressure and sidestepping seniority reform.

LYNCH’S LOSER MOVE. Muttering something about how New Hampshire’s voucher bill would be available to families regardless of their income, Governor Lynch vetoes the bill. Apparently someone actually read the bill and a few

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“Congress to restore D.C. school vouchers”
by Roxanne Turnbull
Washington Examiner
June 18, 2012

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Monday that they intend to restore funding for a school voucher program in the District that President Obama wants to cut.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, which allows low-income students to attend private schools, “has provided a lifeline to many disadvantaged kids in the District, and I hope that Congress will fully fund the program this year,” said Lieberman.

While Senate and House leaders agreed to restore the funding that Obama sought to cut, they haven’t decided how much money to provide. The House wants to restore $20 million. The Senate proposes $13.5 million. Both versions would lift the cap on the number of participating students imposed by Obama.

Obama’s proposed cut would not have eliminated the scholarship program, but it would have reduced the number of students who could participate, said Ed Davies of the D.C. Children & Youth Investment Trust Corp.

The scholarship program now pays to send about 1,800 students to private schools. Of the nearly 1,200 students who applied this year, 522 are eligible for scholarships if there is funding.

“I think it restores a lot of confidence for the families,” Davies said of the congressional efforts to restore funding. “It also will serve as an advertisement for families interested next year.”

Majority of moms vouch for vouchers
by Deborah Simmons
Washington Times
May 9, 2012

Remember the Ohio mom who was jailed and put on three years’ probation because she lied on her daughters’ school applications about where they lived? Well, a new nationwide poll of mothers sort of bails her out.

Seventy-one percent of mothers support school vouchers, which gives parents the option of choosing where their children go to school, and moms want those vouchers available to all families, according to the poll, which was commissioned by the nonpartisan Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and compiled by the Braun Research Inc.

Conducted April 17 to 24, as liberals were manufacturing the fictitious GOP “war on women,” women added their resounding support to the school-choice movement.

Among mothers, 61 percent support school vouchers; among non-mothers, 55 percent voiced support.

Less than a third of mothers (28 percent) said they oppose vouchers.

Also, the percentage of mothers who “strongly support” vouchers is nearly double that of moms who said they “strongly oppose” vouchers, 33 percent compared to 15 percent.

Moreover, when it comes to access to vouchers and scholarships, 71 percent back universal access by agreeing that “school vouchers or scholarships should be available to all families, regardless of incomes and special needs.”

And when it comes to the non-moms cohort, they, too, agreed that vouchers and scholarships should be available to all families, coming in at a strong 69 percent.

So, whether you are a parent or not, women are sending unwavering support for school choice in general and vouchers in particular.

Do you support vouchers?

For housing?

For substance-abuse treatment?

For the disabled?

For active and veteran members of the military?

For public feeding programs?

For day care services?

For senior citizens?

For funeral services for the indigent?

For college tuition?

For public schooling?

Gotcha!

Local, state and federal governments use vouchers for all sorts of programs. School vouchers should be

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School vouchers spark growing court fights in US
by Kimberly Hefling
Associated Press
April 9, 2012

Students like Delano Coffy are at the heart of brewing political fights and court battles over whether public dollars should go to school vouchers to help make private schools more affordable.

He was failing in his neighborhood public elementary school in Indianapolis until his mother enrolled him in a Roman Catholic school. Heather Coffy has scraped by for years to pay the tuition for Delano, now 16 and in a Catholic high school, and his two younger siblings, who attend the same Catholic elementary school as their brother did. She’s getting help today from a voucher program, passed last year at the urging of GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels, that allows her to use state money for her children’s education.

“I can’t even tell you how easy I can breathe now knowing that for at least for this year my kids can stay at the school,” said the single mother, who filed a petition in court in support of the law. The state Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the law, which provides vouchers worth on average more than $4,000 a year to low- and middle-income families. A family of four making about $60,000 a year qualifies.

For all the arguments in favor of vouchers, there are opponents who say vouchers erode public schools by taking away money, violate the separation of church and state by giving public dollars to religious-based private schools, and aren’t a proven way to improve test scores.

Even among supporters, there’s dissension over whether vouchers should only be offered to low-income students on a limited basis or made available to anyone. There’s also division among black and Hispanic leaders as to whether vouchers help or hurt kids in urban schools.

Many opponents also dislike scholarship programs

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“Louisiana Senate votes to expand vouchers, public charter schools”
by Bill Barrow
Times Picayune
April 4, 2012

The Louisiana Senate handed Gov. Bobby Jindal sweeping victories Wednesday, giving him comfortable margins for his wide-ranging proposals to restructure primary and secondary education in Louisiana.

In a 23-16 vote, which followed a handful of amendments, senators voted to limit teacher tenure and overhaul educators’ compensation, while shifting hiring and firing authority from school boards to superintendents. The upper chamber followed several hours later with a 24-15 vote to expand public charter schools and establish a statewide program that uses the public-school financing formula to pay private-school tuition grants for certain low-income students.

The Senate action sends House Bills 974 and 976 back to the lower chamber, which is expected to approve the Senate versions today and forward them to Jindal, who is certain to sign them with great fanfare.

Should representatives reject the changes, a committee of lawmakers from both chambers would reconcile differences.

The proposals headline an agenda that would put the second-term executive and renewed national GOP player at the forefront of Republican governors who have successfully redefined how their states organize and pay for public education. They will become law barely a month after Jindal unveiled the initial version of the bills, an inarguably swift path for complex ideas that drew interest from large constituencies, from the business lobby and school-choice advocates to state teachers associations.

Senate Education Chairman Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, framed the proposals as necessary and fundamental. “This system has been stuck at the bottom for decades, as long as anyone can remember,” he said. “If this effort saves one child, then these eight hours we’ve spent on these bills … is worth it, every minute.”

Sen. Elbert Guillory, D-Opelousas, said of children in poorly performing schools: “They are desperate for some option.”

‘A slap in the face’

Opponents chided

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