Louisiana vouchers going mainly to church-affiliated schools

The Louisiana Department of Education has released documents showing 119 private and parochial schools are in line to accept public money to educate students who are enrolled in failing public schools or who are entering kindergarten for the first time, via the new statewide voucher program. And The (Alexandria) Town Talk reports virtually all of the schools getting funds have a church affiliation and most are Catholic. Just one school—Park Vista Elementary School of Opelousas—is a public school. Superintendent of Education John White says the number of applications for vouchers exceeds the number of slots at schools, so lotteries would be conducted in some areas of the state. In a few areas, such as Lafayette, there were fewer applications than slots available, so 90% of the applicants got their first choice of assignments. Actual assignments, though, won’t be sent to parents until early August because some shuffling is still going on and some schools might drop out or add more student slots. Originally, the state offered 7,400 voucher seats, a number that has dropped to 6,600. About 10,400 voucher applications were received. Read the full story here.