New Orleans Schools: Magnets and Vouchers and Charters, oh my!

The grand debate over public school reform did not pass New Orleans by, but the demand for alternatives to public education, "school choice," and tax relief were not as strong as other cities in the US. Let's look at some of this by way of background to the current "charter school" debate.

Parents demand "school choice" when their public school system reaches a point where they feel like fixing or changing it is completely out of their control. Usually the trigger points are an eroding school infrastructure, an increase in school violence, and decreasing numbers of qualified teachers (which leads to higher pupil-to-teacher classroom ratios). Race also enters this equation, but those with racial motivations often are disguised and code-worded within complaints about other school deficiencies, e.g., violence would be reduced if there were fewer black or latin students in a school. Religious concerns, such as the lack of prayer in schools, also popus up from time-to-time, but the most vocal of families on the religious front are more willing to split from the public system and start their own school(s) or to home school.

There are three common ways to offer "choice" to parents of public school children. Pro status-quo forces, such as teachers unions, have so far been able to beat back most forms of "voucher" programs. The idea behind vouchers is to give a parent a coupon good for the value of a public school education. The family chooses a school for the child. It can be a public or private school, down the block or across town, if that's the family's choice. If the choice is a public school, the voucher is turned in and instruction commences. If it's a private school, the family pays the difference between the value of the voucher and the annual tuition, and they get to business.

Voucher plans have never developed any traction with New Orleanians, for two reasons. First, there's no real way to give the taxpayer his/her money back, since they put so little into the education system in the first place. With the first $75K of of the value of a home exampt from property tax, and the bulk of sales taxes being paid by tourists and convention-goers, the typical family in the city doesn't make much of a financial contribution to schools. Additionally, supplemental funding from the state government, both direct cash payments and in-kind payments such as school textbooks contributes to lowering the taxpayer's financial burden. The State of Louisiana has historically contributed a lot more money to education than many states because of mineral royalties. Prior to the oil bust of the 1980s, the state was flush in oil/gas revenue. It was determined that having the state disburse that money to parish school boards was the fairest solution.

The second reason vouchers aren't pushed very hard is that parents have a viable and competing education system in New Orleans. Catholic schools offer families a viable and relatively inexpensive alternative to public schools. With the state picking up the tab for textbooks and bus transportation even for private school students, the argument that taxpayers who pay tuition should get back some of what they pay for public schools rings pretty hollow.

That leaves unhappy public school parents demanding "school choice." They're not as interested in vouchers as they are in solutions. The parish school systems recognize that and many have implemented "magnet" school programs to quiet the activists. The idea behind "magnet" schools is to establish district-wide schools that specialize and attract a particular type of student. Musicians, actors, and artists find a home at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), for example. Other schools have been established for top-level students (Benjamin Franklin High), and others for non-college prep students. These programs are often quite good, they present a problem for the Orleans Parish system: the rest of the schools are so poor that parents are clamoring for more and more alternatives, to the point where the "magnet" schools would actually be in more demand than the neighborhood schools. The lack of funding means that many families are turned away at the doors, fostering accusations of favoritism, racism, and economic elitism.

But there's no more money to improve the neighborhood schools to make them more attractive than their city-wide competiton. Still, the parents demand improvements. The school board tries to raise revenue, but meets oppostion from renters and businesses. Removing the property tax homestead exemption would require an amendment to the state's constitution. Everyone thinks the school system should work smarter with the money they have, but few think the existing structure works at all.

Enter the concept of "charter" schools. The idea here is to essentially sub-contract school operations to outside entities. The holders of "charters" can be for-profit education providers or community groups. The theory is to have the entity holding the charter come to the school board with a proposal and operating budget. If the charter holder can operate the school on less money than the school system can, that money can be paid to the charter holder as profit. In the case of a not-for-profit entity, they can pump the savings back into the school and make it that much better.

Naturally, those who have the most vested in the status quo, administrators, central office employees, and union teachers, vehemently oppose charter schools. But they're not alone; many other interests opposed this level of school privatization of public schools. Many who believe in strong protection of church-state separation see charters as a threat, because some districts might grant a charter to a church. Disability activists worry that corporate-run schools will cut corners and offer less opportunities for special-ed students. The list goes on.

Of course the arguments for and against "school choice" assumed that the school system had some sort of revenue base and operating budget. Hurricane Katrina changed that dynamic dramatically.

(Tomorrow: Charters in the post-Katrina city.)