Dive Brief:
- The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education met this week to consider a new contentious per-pupil state funding plan that would potentially redistribute funding from gifted students to disabled students.
- Public school officials and open-enrollment charters largely support the measure, the Advocate reports, yet the majority of magnet school leaders oppose it.
- Magnets have already threatened legal action if the proposal passes; one school, Lake Forest Charter Elementary School, has already lawyered up and threatened local and state education officials in a fiery letter claiming the formula violated both the Louisiana state and U.S. constitutions.
Dive Insight:
Tax dollars in the state are divided between public schools based on enrollment, with the numbers of disabled and gifted students factoring in. Schools can currently spend that money however they see fit. Public school enrollment in Louisiana has seen a steady increase since Hurricane Katrina.
Although the new $390 million plan has already divided education leaders, officials, and policymakers into two camps, some districts remain confused over what exactly is being proposed. The Times-Picayune newspaper also points out that the plan's advocates and opponents are separated by socioeconomics, with four wealthier magnets pitted against 27 more disadvantaged open-enrollment charters.
District leaders in locales considering a greater push towards charters, like Los Angeles, are likely watching this funding fight closely. In L.A, a plan backed by powerful interests including the Broad Foundation aims to triple the number of charter schools in Los Angeles over the next eight years.
