








That being said, I have to admit that it is time to consider alternatives for children attending New Orleans Public Schools. In the just finished legislative session, a bill to allow vouchers for children to opt out of public schools and enter the local parochial system was defeated. This was a striking blow against these children. It turns out there might be some folly in that logic, too. The Orleans Parish school system spent $6,446 per pupil in the 2001- 2002 school year. The national average for per-pupil expenditures was $7,692. Washington, D.C., schools spent the most, more than $12,000 per student, and Utah spent the least, just under $5,000. The Louisiana average was $6,567, about $120 per child more than Orleans Parish. Another crisis will occur when students from the schools taken over by outside educators have to re-enter the Orleans public system. Imagine the trauma Capdau Middle School students will undergo when they return to classrooms controlled by our local School Board. They will go from an expectation of learning to an exercise in survival.
