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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's (R) school voucher scheme has been plagued by a series of problems, including directing public funds to "schools" with truly bizarre lesson plans, and financing religious ministries led by some, shall we say, eccentric pastors.
Making matters worse, however, were the legal questions surrounding the controversial law. Today, a judge in Baton Rouge approved of the process by which the law was passed, but said the diversion of taxpayer dollars to private schools is unconstitutional.
The ruling, which came almost immediately after a three-day long court hearing, came in two parts. [...]
[Judge Tim Kelley] declared the diversion of funds from the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) -- the formula under which per pupil public education funds are calculated -- to private entities was unconstitutional.
The suit was brought by Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT), Louisiana Association of Educators (LAE), Louisiana School Boards Association and 43 local school boards.
It seems all but certain that the Jindal administration will appeal the ruling, though the governor's signature policy is clearly off to a very poor start.
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The governor's proposal is a bare-faced attempt to bankrupt public education in Louisiana, already one of the worst-funded systems in the country.
Just another one of their [gop/tp] attempts to re-distribute Our government money to the private sector ! These Gomers will stop at Nothing to Rip-off and destroy Our government and Steal from the American people !
Good for the students of Louisiana! Frankly Louisiana is what 47th in the education rankings of the 50 states - frankly I'm disgusted by the attempts around this nation to further disenfranchise students and the naked attempt to break up the teachers unions! It's a disgrace, that the GOTP have nothing to offer other than dumbing down of the sheeple!
While there appeared to be no requirements or accountability to the public for the education being given at those "private schools" - then there should have been NO public money going to those "private schools"! Jindal is a joke, but then so are the rest of these power grabbing GOTP legislators - and the joke is on the people that have voted these incompetent ideologues into office!
The Tea Party and the Televangelists are all in bed with each other. They should perform some random audits on these churches. Where is all the money going? They are all con-men acting as if they really have a legitimate job, their job is to rip off our government swindling the tax payers of much needed help, they're pocketing the money for themselves and their non-issues.
This is Louisiana...and people are surprised??? Really?
Consider that this is the state that elected Edwin "Vote For the Crook. It's Important." Edwards Governor! THREE TIMES! this is just par for the course.
the alternative was David Duke......
So much for mealy-mouthed Jindal talking about expanding the base via inclusion while trying to steal public education. If he truly believes he has a national future, he will need to follow Mitt the twit's lead and bury all records of his term as governor. He is a sick joke that needs to be repeated publicly and often. He tried to steal the future of an entire state' children.
Huge win for everyone.
The judge who made this decision is not only a conservative Republican, he's also married to a woman who was Jindal's Commissioner of Adminstration (the most powerful cabinet post in Louisiana) for the first 2 1/2 years of his administration.
this has started sooner than i had expected. not that i wanted those poor students to suffer a moment longer than they have.
i had expected the first case to be heard around july/august 2013. then appeals and massive publicity running for about a year. this would put the maximum of the outrage curve just before the 2014 mid-terms. this is better for the kids fortunately at the expense of my political preferences.
as long as this ruling holds there is hope for some sort of improvement in public education but the system needs more than money thrown at it. oddly enough, education needs intelligence applied to it.
And what is the difference between a charter school and a public school? Other than a charter school means that somewhere, some CEO is more concerned with the bottom line than ANYTHING else, what is the difference? What magic is going to make a teacher working for a corporation more effective than a teacher working for his neighbors?
If you don't know, I'm sorry for you.
I've been waiting for some court, somewhere, to come up with this ruling. Similar laws are in the works in most states, funneling taxpayer money to private and parochial schools. Hopefully this will be the first domino that denies public support for private institutions.
Follow the money.
From Doonsbury,
Science teacher: Now I'm required to teach the alternative theory ... God , Dinosaurs walking with man ...
Student: Sir, Please stop, I want to get into a good University.
.
Still finding my way around. But, read about the world telecommunications union is trying to pass a bill increasing govt reach and scrutiny of telexommunications: cell phone, internet etc.. Proposed by Egypt, Saudia Arabia states seeking rights to or shut downs of communications in cntry, in wrld. The US could not have helped like they did with the 2000 sites in Syria, when the govt shut down internet yesterday. This is serious stuff.
Isn't Michigan trying to do the same thing?
Privatize government benefits and socialize private liability,,,,,
This is what the Repubs do when they are in charge..no matter what the pundits and so called GOP leaders say about becoming a more inclusive party....THIS is how they govern...we should not be fooled...
Glad to see that public dollars will not go to teaching that the Lochness Monster is real. Seriously, the state needs to get its education act together or those kids will have no future.