In the Wake of the Storm.

Abstract

Voucher programs and their supporters have had a tough last few years. The Florida Supreme Court declared vouchers in that state unconstitutional in 2006. Three years later, the Arizona Supreme Court did the same. In 2007, voters in Utah handed a resounding defeat to a voucher program there. In 2009, the U.S. Congress refused to continue funding the federal voucher program in Washington, D.C., effectively killing the program in the nation's capital. The Louisiana legislature stood apart from this trend and in the summer of 2008 passed Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence, the state's first voucher program, specifically for New Orleans, In the fall, 870 students in kindergarten through 3rd grade whose families earned less than two and a half times the federal poverty level and who would otherwise attend some of the worst schools in the city received vouchers worth up to $6,000 to attend private schools of their choice. In the second year, 2009-10, the maximum voucher amount rose to more than $7,000. The number of students receiving vouchers increased to 1,324. Thirty-one private schools, most of How vouchers came to the Big Easy them parochial, in Orleans Parish and neighboring Jefferson Parish serve these students. As was the case before Hurricane Katrina (see "Hope after Katrina," feature, Fall 2006), private schools educate about one-third of the students in Orleans Parish (see Figure 1). How did the Louisiana legislature pass this proposal when so many other states were rejecting similar programs? At first glance the question may not seem particularly interesting. After all, Louisiana is seen as the perennial exception to the general rule of American political culture. The state's most famous political personality and a uniquely Louisianan character, Huey P. Long, once described himself as sui generis, one of a kind. The moniker is as fitting to the land of Long as to the man himself. On top of that, Hurricane Katrina brought unprecedented physical destruction, demographic shifts, and economic impacts that reshaped state and local politics as well. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In fact, passage of House Bill 1347, which established the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program, depended on many factors, only some of which can be traced to Hurricane Katrina. The legislative success of the program was more a political story than a fluke of geography or history. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "In a way we've never done before" Policy innovation comes slowly along (he muddy banks of the Mississippi River. Frequently, it seems only an external catalyst (federal civil-rights enforcement, international fluctuations in the price of oil, or floodwaters) can spur new approaches to the social and economic challenges that have long faced New Orleans. The city's Old World persona has frustrated the reformer at least as much as it has intrigued the tourist. School governance is no exception. Prior to Hurricane Katrina. The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB was the strongest board politically in the state. It oversaw the largest district, the most students, and the biggest budget. It employed more teachers and staff than any other district, a ready resource for phone calls and letters directed at state officials. Its boundaries overlapped with 15 seats in the Louisiana House of Representatives and another 7 in the Senate, represen ting about 15 percent of the legislature, far more than any other school district. New Orleans was also home to the state's strongest teachers union, United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO). In the 1970s, it was the first teachers union in the Deep South (and the only one in Louisiana) to win collective bargaining rights. Choice in Action (Figure 1) More than two-thirds of schoolchildren in New Orleans attended either a private school or a charter school in 2008-09. Private 34% RSD and BESE (state) charter 24% OPSB (district) charter 14% RSD (state) tranditional 23% OPSB (district) traditional 5% SOURCES: Greater New Orleany Community Data Center (private school enrollment, October 2008); New Schools for New Orleans, 2008-09 school year Note: Table made from pie chart. …