Among new education chief's tasks under new bill: accountability for voucher students
NEW ORLEANS — Nonpartisan watchdog groups had mostly good things to say as Gov. Bobby Jindal's legislation establishing a statewide private school voucher program zipped through the House and Senate, but one little phrase was needed in the 47-paged bill to ease some of their concerns.
It was inserted by the House into a list of things to do for theLouisiana Department of Education and Superintendent John White: develop an accountability system for students who take public money to pay tuition for private school.
The bill is aimed at students from low- to moderate-income families who attend poorly performing public schools. They will be able to apply for government-funded tuition to approved private schools when the bill takes effect this summer.
Jindal won strong support for the bill. But in a state where public schools are rigorously scrutinized, graded and subjected to possible state take-over under a system approved by the Legislature in the 1990s, the idea of handing public money over to private schools
