
According to my numbers this boat would be the size of a thimble, thus dumb.
Governor Jindal is moving forward with an ambitious education reform agenda in Louisiana, which, unfortunately, includes a focus on vouchers to send kids in public schools to private schools. His push for vouchers, partially funded by my favorite Michigan conservatives – the DeVoses, is shielded by his argument that parents ought to have maximum choice in the education market. Private schools, his agenda argues, must be in the mix for there to be true school choice.
I disagee with the entire idea of vouchers. I strongly believe that if you play with public money you must play by public rules, which is something I do not really believe private, religious schools in Louisiana are willing to submit to. Regardless of this belief, I do not believe that the voucher debate is anything the proponents or oponenets of education reform ought to spend any amount of time on. The fact stands that there are not enough seats in private schools in Louisiana to support a large surge of public school students, thus making this entire issue moot.
The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops estimates that there are only about 1,000 seats for students opting to take a voucher and attend private schools. Under Jindal’s plan nearly 380,000 students will be eligible, which means only .003% (using my real complex math) of students will find seats in private schools. The entire idea that vouchers will play a large role in the education market place is merely a stick thrown into important discussions by those certain factions pushing for and standing against reform in Louisiana education.