BESE approves accountability plan for vouchers

Louisiana’s top education board today voted to back accountability standards proposed on Monday by Superintendent of Education John White for the private schools that will get taxpayer-subsidized students through the state’s new voucher program. The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 9-2 to approve the accountability plan, which you can check out in its entirety here. Schools in the voucher program that hit certain enrollment standards—estimated to be about 25% of the schools participating in the program this year—will get performance scores and face penalties if their students are deemed to be failing. The scoring and penalties will apply to private schools with more than 10 voucher students per grade or more than 40 voucher students in all tested grades. Supporters called the standards a strong method for tracking performance. Critics, however, say the accountability measures approved today are a good starting point, but maintain the plans provide too little information for parents to effectively judge schools.