‘LaPolitics’: LCTCS is planning to form its own charter school

As part of an effort to reach younger students, the Louisiana Community and Technical Colleges System is in the process of launching its own charter school. 

Currently, the average age of a technical or community college student is 26 and state officials are eager to reach these folks earlier in their educational development. 

LCTCS President Richard Nelson tells LaPolitics that a carefully crafted charter school is one solution.  

“Every one of our colleges will be a partner with it,” Nelson says. “There’ll be some shared leadership between the charter school board and LCTCS. Some components will probably be virtual, so people can do it online at their own pace. And for the things that need to be in person, they can go on campus at any community college location and take those courses in person.”

The overall goal, he said, is to leverage existing faculty, current facilities and already-established curriculum and then making all of that available to pretty much every high school student who wants to enroll.

“We’ve submitted the letter of intent already to the Louisiana Department of Education and we’re in the process of completing the application,” Nelson says. “It should be done this month and it’ll be up for review this year, probably, by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and then probably have the first students the fall of next year.”

—They said it: “I think I’m like the new animal in the zoo. They don’t know what it is, but they like to poke to see what will happen.” –U.S. Sen. John Kennedy on his growing profile outside of Congress, in Politico

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.