Voucher law questioned in desegregation case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana's education chief has been summoned to federal court in a case involving the state's new school voucher law and a 47-year-old desegregation case.
U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle has ordered White and the state education board to come to federal court in New Orleans next Tuesday.
The Tangipahoa school system argues that the voucher law, which pays private school tuition for some lower-income students from low-performing schools, diverts state money from the local school district. And they say that affects the system's ability to comply with orders in the desegregation case. Those orders include construction of four elementary schools and the continuation of magnet school programs.
The new statewide voucher program provides state-funded private school tuition for students from low- to moderate-income families who would otherwise attend a public school graded with a C, D or F