Louisiana’s voucher schools are only slightly worse than public schools

Louisiana’s voucher schools are only slightly worse than public schools

By Your Black World

Voucher programs are touted by many conservatives and even African-Americans as a tool for allowing some children to escape failing public schools. The problem is that often, the schools don’t measure up to the hype. Louisiana’s voucher program allows students “to attend participating private schools at public expense if they are at C, D or F-graded public schools or entering the system for the first time”, according to the The Times Picayune.

The problem? Around of the voucher schools that Louisiana students transitioned to have a D or F average, based on a report released on Wednesday.

Of the voucher schools assessed, the Picayune observed the following:

      At least 45 percent of students in Louisiana’s controversial voucher program last year attended schools with performance scores in the D to F range of the state’s grading scale…

But if kids who came to the voucher program came from public schools rated at C, D, or F and at least half arrived at D or F rated voucher schools, then aren’t many students going from bad to worse?

And since these voucher schools are private, taxpayers will have a hard time holding these schools accountable for failure, although Louisiana officials have “promised” the opposite.

Vouchers began as a New Orleans pilot in 2008 and expanded statewide in fall 2012. There is still much data to be released before observes can adequately assess the voucher programs.

Here are a few things taught at some of Louisiana’s voucher schools, according to Mother Jones:

      “Africa is a continent with many needs. It is still in need of the gospel…Only about ten percent of Africans can read and write. In some areas the mission schools have been shut down by Communists who have taken over the government.”

      Slave masters were nice guys: “A few slave holders were undeniably cruel. Examples of slaves beaten to death were not common, neither were they unknown. The majority of slave holders treated their slaves well.”—United States History for Christian Schools, 2nd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 1991

Good luck Louisiana.