Four Years After Katrina
It has been four years since Katrina struck, the levees failed, and New Orleans began the challenge of rebuilding a better city. One of the most dramatic upheavals since the storm has been in public education.
New Orleans schools now operate under a decentralized system that is completely unique. Sixty percent of students attend public charter schools. Charters have the freedom to individually decide how they will operate to better serve the needs of their students – who to hire, what curriculum to use, how to spend the money.
Moreover, all schools are schools of choice. Families get to pick their school, since students are no longer assigned to a school based on where they live.
How do voters feel about the changes?
A recent poll conducted by the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL) reveals that New Orleans voters overwhelmingly support the changes and don’t want to go back to education as usual. The CABL survey, conducted by Vern Kennedy, polled 500 registered voters in New Orleans. The results:
-
When asked in an open-ended question to list things that are better than they were before Katrina, one in four voters named education – the number one response. Continue reading