Every child should have access to a high-quality education, ensuring every Louisiana resident has a chance to succeed. Louisiana cannot have a bright economic future without a workforce equipped with the skills and training necessary to compete in a 21st century economy. Revamping Louisiana’s educational system stands as an economic imperative—and a moral one too.
For years, American schools have based student promotion from one grade level to the next and ultimately high school graduation, in part, on whether students are in attendance for a minimum number of instructional days or minutes. Louisiana is no exception. State law (La. Revised Statutes 17:154.1) requires Louisiana public schools to ensure that students...
It’s that season again, where education policy proposals abound. Another class of high school seniors will be graduating soon. While it would be great to have a 100% graduation rate, we know that some students will not meet the requirements to receive a diploma. As we’ve seen over the past few years, this is the...
Over the past two years, lawmakers and governors in five states – Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Utah, and West Virginia – have launched school choice programs that give all or nearly all families of school-age children the ability to select and pay for the school or educational program that best fits their child’s needs. Modeled after...
In a move that hasn’t gotten a lot of public attention, the legislature, governor, and state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education enacted laws and regulations over the past few years regarding students being able to transfer from low-performing public schools to higher-performing ones as determined by the state’s K-12 education testing and accountability system....
Earlier this week, the Public Affairs Research Council reported new Southern Regional Education Board data showing college enrollment is decreasing nationwide and in Louisiana. Experts believe Louisiana will experience further declines over the next several years. The stated reasons are a drop in U.S. birthrates and continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, some continue...
Governors and lawmakers across the country are expanding school choice in big ways. Last year, Arizona and West Virginia became the first states to provide all families with access to funds to send their child to a school that best fits their needs, unlike other smaller state programs that are only open to certain groups of...
What: Sunday kicks off the annual National School Choice Week across America! All week long, the Pelican Institute will join others in Louisiana, and across the country, in celebrating the many types of schools and educational programs that exist for our kids. National School Choice Week highlights the importance of giving all parents the ability to select a...
Understanding the data is extremely important in evaluating trends associated with, and the performance of, Louisiana’s elementary and secondary education system. Despite spending the most per student in the southeast U.S., Louisiana consistently ranks at the bottom of the country in public school educational outcomes. While there has been incremental progress, it’s been very slow, and generations...
As the parent of a young teen, constantly trying to instill in him the value of an education and helping him responsibly navigate the Internet, this recent opinion piece in Entrepreneur struck a chord in me. As his dad and I attempt to nurture his developmental, spiritual, and academic growth, including his love of math, computing,...
This week another study was released on a state school choice program – this time, Ohio’s “EdChoice” scholarship programs, which helps about 55,000 low-income students and students attending low-performing public schools attend a participating private school. The project examined the impacts of the program on public school district enrollments, finances, and educational outcomes. Private school...
For nearly three decades, there’s been a movement underway to not only improve and modernize public education but also help parents in search of non-traditional educational options for their child’s education beyond homeschooling, which remains quite popular and continues to grow. The reasons are simple: (1) many believe that our current structure of education was...
This week the Louisiana Department of Education released the annual Fall 2022 Reading Report, which is a summary of the results of reading screeners for public school students enrolled in kindergarten through third grade. Louisiana state law mandates administration of the screener in the first 30 days of each school year and public reporting of...
Last week, all eyes were on the national TV networks’ blue and red maps as the 2022 midterm election results came in. For those looking for a big partisan shake-up, it turned out to be a dud. But for those watching with an eye toward school choice, the results were more than promising. Voters overwhelmingly...
Last week, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) shared a document with members of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) showing large sums of state and federal funding that is going unspent or has been declined by schools for critical high school programming. This is funding that could be paying for students to...