New Orleans: the decline of Public Education

The decision to re-open schools in Orleans Parish post-Katrina is all about money, but that wasn't the case prior to the storm. In a city that was 60% black/40% white, the public school system's racial make-up was 95% black/5% white. Every city has families who make the decision to not use public education, some for religious reasons, others because they don't view the public schools as adequate, and yes, some for racial reasons. New Orleans hit the trifecta in the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Catholic school system in New Orleans is one of the most extensive in the country, with over 70 elementary schools four high schools in their direct control (the other Catholic high schools in the area are owned/operated by various religious orders), Catholics in New Orleans, through their priests, bishops and archbishops, are the one groups most responsible for the decay of public education in New Orleans.

In spite of the fact that Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel excommunicated Judge Leander Perez of Plaquemines Parish for encouraging Catholics to resist desegregation of Catholic schools in 1962, the Archdiocese was the local leader in encouraging de facto segration of local schools. The neighborhood parish school was just the alternative white residents of the city needed. White residents of the city could enroll their children in neighborhood Catholic schools rather than join in white-flight to the suburbs.

As the Catholic school system grew through the 1960s and 1970s, white homeowners were less and less motivated to provide financial support for public education. While no city has an easy time levying property taxes, New Orleans faced a number of obstacles. The state's "homestead exemption" assured that residents whose houses were valued at $50,000 (later $75,000) or less paid no property tax at all. White voters with children enrolled in Catholic schools were not interested in taxing themselves because they were already paying tuition. That left the burden of financing public education on renters (rental property was not covered by the homestead exemption) and businesses.

Of course, landlords and business owners pass their tax burdens onto their customers. This created the ironic situation where those who made the most use of public education (low-income families who rent) were forced to provide the bulk of the system's financial support. Attempts to use other revenue sources, such as the sales tax, were also problematic. Sales tax is one of the most regressive revenue sources a municipality can use, but the school board had the power to levy sales taxes approved by the voters.

By the 1980s and 1990s, the combination of suburban expansion, white flight and institutionalized de facto segregation took its toll on Orleans Parish Public Schools. The rise of the black middle class at this time wasn't enough to stop the schools' decline. Many black families in New Orleans are Catholic; continuing the tradition of the neighborhood parish school was the path of least resistance for them. Just before Hurricane Katrina turned the city into a ghost town for weeks, the Orleans Parish Public School System really only serviced that segment of the community who could find no other option for their children.

Then Katrina forced that segment of the population out of town.

(Tomorrow: Middle class interest in public education returns.)