Governor Edwards said he would call for the overhaul of the states voucher program because it was poorly conceived, implemented without the proper checks and balances, lacks oversight and made reference to the latest reports that out lined the problems of the program. The program cost the state $40 million a year and serves approximately 6900 students in private schools.
Former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal's administration created the program claiming it would help those students in failing public schools to attend private schools and pursue a quality education. That thinking was severely flawed and underscores how little Jindal and his administration understood education. The first order of business would be to make those failing public schools better and productive, demand that it do so and use the money and what ever it takes to make it happen. Instead, they threw millions of education dollars to private schools where most of those schools (according to the report) who received voucher money were failing schools themselves in the 2017-2018 school year.
The people should remember that during Bobby Jindal's time in office, he and the republican controlled legislature cut funding education almost every year to balance the state budget and still failed to do so. The bottom line concerning the $40 million voucher program is that it should be regulated with checks and balances and regular oversight and the state should never overlook the fact that it has the responsibility to see that the public school system is healthy and productive. One that serves the needs of the student and that the teachers and schools be given the necessary support to make it happen.
That is the best way to keep the cost of the voucher program for private schools at a reasonable level with the aim of reducing the need for the voucher program. The solution is very elementary, and that's no pun.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
No comments :
Post a Comment