The latest school choice report issued by the Louisiana Department of Education this week reports 6,800 students enrolled in private or parochial schools for the 2018-2019 school year through the Louisiana Scholarship Program.
In the Baton Rouge area, participating schools enrolled roughly 1,100 scholarship program students for the 2018-2019 school year.
The News Star reports that only a handful of the participating schools in the state are actually issued a score letting parents compare schools academically. That’s because only a few have enough students taking standardized tests.
The participating schools in the East Baton Rouge area who qualified for a score on a scale of 1 to 100 are: St. Francis Xavier School (47.9), Redemptorist Elementary School (35.7), Hosanna Christian Academy (52.3) and Ascension Diocesan Regional School (51.5).
Other participating Baton Rouge area schools who don’t qualify for a score are: Angles Academy, Baton Rouge International School, Brighter Horizon School of Baton Rouge, Cristo Rey Baton Rouge Franciscan High School, the Diocese of Baton Rouge Special Education Program, Greater Baton Rouge Hope Academy, Holy Family School, Jehovah-Jireh Christian Academy, Louisiana New School Academy, Martin Luther King Jr. Christian Academy, Most Blessed Sacrament School, St. Alphonsus School, St. Jean Vianney School, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Thomas More School, The Dunham School, and Trinity Christian Academy.
The latest report also notes the results of a survey conducted by the school choice advocacy group Louisiana Federation for Children. According to the survey, 92.5% of parents with children in the program say they’re “satisfied or very satisfied” with their current school, 3.8% said they’re “unsatisfied or very unsatisfied.” Over 95% said they’re happy with their child’s academic progress and that their child feels safe and welcome.
Students qualify for the scholarship program if they live in a district with a C, D, or F-rated public school and the family’s income isn’t higher than the federal poverty level by more than 250%. Read the full report.
