CV NEWS FEED // A recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal commends Louisiana for becoming the 12th state to adopt universal school choice.
On June 19, at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Lafayette, Louisiana, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed universal school choice legislation into law.
Louisiana is currently ranked near the bottom in the U.S. News & World Report’s pre-K to grade 12 education rankings released this year. The WSJ reports that according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 27% of eighth-graders are proficient in reading and just 19% in math.
It is unsurprising that this change has been initiated, as school choice advocate Corey DeAngelis foresaw back in 2023. His prediction underscored the increasing momentum and public support for these reforms.
At the signing of the bill, Landry highlighted the success other states have had with school choice. Louisiana allocates more funding per student compared to Mississippi, Florida, and Texas, all of which allow for school choice. However, this financial investment has not translated into improved student learning outcomes, contradicting the ongoing assertion by unions that increased funding alone is the key to public school success.
This recent development is another indication of the increasing demand for school choice, a sentiment shared by many legislators and clergy.
As reported previously by CatholicVote, in the latest version of the USCCB’s guidelines for Catholic voters, the bishops stated that “Parents—the first and most important educators—have a fundamental right to choose the education best suited to the needs of their children, including public, private, and religious schools.”
