school choice

Louisiana has passed legislation that I had hoped would happen in Maine this year, but our teacher's unions were too powerful to allow true school choice. All Americans at one time were homeschooled or went to private schools in one of their neighbor's home and it seems that more were literate at that time then they are today. Hurricane Katrina was a horrible, deadly disaster, but it seems that it blew away more than homes and trees, it blew out some of the entrenched liberalism and brought reform of the government and the educational system. Despite the doom and gloom predictions of the biased reporter in this Reuters story, the opportunities of Louisiana's schoolchildren seem to have gotten considerably brighter. I do wonder if some of the accredited homeschool programs like Abeka and Seton are included? If so, then homeschooling might just be the next wave in the Bayou State.  

Louisiana is embarking on the nation's boldest experiment in privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.
Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.
"We are changing the way we deliver education," said Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican who muscled the plan through the legislature this spring over fierce objections from Democrats and teachers unions. "We are letting parents decide what's best for their children, not government."