National School Boards Association Supports Voucher Lawsuit Challenging Public Education Funding in Louisiana
NSBA President C. Ed Massey to attend the Baton Rouge hearing
Alexandria, Va. (November 27, 2012) – The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is supporting a lawsuit filed by the Louisiana School Boards Association (LSBA), the state’s main teachers’ organizations, and 43 school districts that challenges the constitutionality of Louisiana’s law to provide vouchers to students in low performing schools. The first hearing on this lawsuit is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, November 28 in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, La. LSBA’s Legal Counsel Robert Hammonds will be arguing the case on behalf of LSBA along with legal counsel from the teachers’ organizations.
The law allows students to attend any private or parochial school that is approved by the Louisiana Department of Education, and many of these teach specific and in some cases extremist religious philosophies. The lawsuit also challenges the state funding formula adopted by the legislature that diverts public tax dollars to private entities such as private course providers, with little or no accountability or oversight. Further, the voucher program does little to hold these schools accountable for student learning or financial management of taxpayer funds--schools that accept less than 40 students with vouchers are not subject to rigorous accountability requirements for student achievement.
The lawsuit is being considered after a federal judge in New Orleans-based U.S. District ruled on November 26 that the program violates a desegregation order in Tangipahoa Parish.
“It is clear this law was not created with the best interest of all children in mind; instead it promotes a narrow political agenda and will harm community public schools that serve the best interest of all children,” NSBA President C. Ed Massey said. “It also deprives the public schools of valuable resources that are necessary to carry out the mandate to provide a free and appropriate public education.”
Massey will be delivering LSBA a letter of support from NSBA and will be attending the hearing on Wednesday.
The law diverts “tax dollars away from public education to private individuals and entities that are not subject to the same academic, operational, and accountability standards as public schools, do not serve the best interests of school children and do little to ensure they receive the high quality education they need to succeed,” the letter states. “These proposals ignore the hard realities and changing circumstances that school boards face by reducing the already scarce education dollars available to meet the needs of their local communities.”
“Local school boards are designed to hold local schools accountable for student learning, and should be responsible to their communities to provide public schools that are open to all and reflect each area’s diverse needs,” said LSBA Executive Director Scott Richard. “Vouchers only add to the reduced state funding which has resulted in loss of resources from Louisiana’s public school families, who comprise the vast majority of our students.”
Richard, who also will be attending the hearing, penned a November 27 letter to the editor for The Advocate further detailing LSBA’s concerns.
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Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is a not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school boards and their more than 90,000 local school board members throughout the U.S. Working with and through our state associations, NSBA advocates for equity and excellence in public education through school board leadership. www.nsba.org