The State Education Department in Louisiana has given approval to the New Living Word School in Ruston, Louisiana, to accept 315 voucher students. The school currently has 122 students, so if it can enroll its full complement of voucher students, it will nearly quadruple in size.
The New Living Word School will accept the largest number of voucher students in the state’s voucher program. The second largest number of seats is offered by the Upperroom Bible Church Academy in Orleans.
The New Living Word School does not have the facilities or the teachers for an additional 315 students, but that doesn’t matter to the state. The Rev. Jerry Baldwin, the school’s principal and chief pastor said the school would move forward “on faith” and would build new classrooms during the summer.
Instruction in the school is offered for 20-30 minutes each class on DVD, while “the classroom teacher is on hand to manage the class, review homework, answer questions and give assignments.” This is Governor Bobby Jindal’s plan to reform education, remember?
The state education department doesn’t do site visits. All that is required for a school to gain acceptance to get public money is that it has state approval and does not discriminate by race.
And the money to enroll students in the New Living Word School and the Upperroom Bible Church Academy will be subtracted from the Minimum Foundation funding for public schools.
But there’s another problem, other than the loss of funds for public schools. Rev. Baldwin said that tuition would go up for existing students from its current $8,500.
But wouldn’t the families now paying $8,500 wonder why they should pay tuition at all if the state is willing to pay tuition for the new students? Maybe they should drop out of New Living Word, enroll in a public school for a year rated “D” or “F,” return to the religious school, and have the state pay their tuition. Why pay for a religious education if the state will pay for it? For a family with two children, that’s a huge saving, possibly $18,000 a year.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks, Diane. This is what we Louisiana teachers have been screaming about, but no one is listening. This is also what Romney will bring because he holds Louisiana as the example for his federal program.
As I read about this last night, I kept wondering have we all lost our minds?!?!?!
Not surprisingly, this violates Supt. John White’s repeated promises that schools had to limit their voucher students to 20% of the total enrollment so that we would not end up with schools primarily driven by the desire to profit off of tax dollars. He got the voucher legislation passed on that empty promise.
Where are they getting the DVDs? There are not enough good quality DVDs, especially cut to 30 minute segments. Anyone know what their curriculum is? Has the State of Louisiana approved those discs?
I doubt that the State Education Department will ask questions about the DVDs. If the state tries to regulate the private schools, many of them will refuse to take voucher students. This is all about the magic of choice, not quality.
As a Christian school I’m assuming the DVD’s are from A BEKA or a similar curriculum company.
Thank you so much for writing a blog on this outrageous “faith” school. It may take awhile, but this whole voucher plan, I hope, will come back and bite them and the uneducated legislators, by choice and 4th floor intimidation, and the business leaders who fell for the line that Louisiana schools are huge failures. Look at what this is going to subject children to! This is a perfect example of how the kids in Louisiana will be used to make money and keep a school open. I wonder if BAEO is going to help those parents who think vouchers is the answer, get into New Living Word School or Upperroom Bible Church Academy? This is a perfect example of how the taxpayers and public schools will be robbed. This is a perfect example of the inept ability of our State Superintendent, John White. This is a perfect example of abuse!
We need to clarify that the term ‘voucher program’ is euphemism for free, uncountable, secretive transfer of wealth from the tax payer to few faceless corporation who are in fact unaccountable tyrannies. There are few clear goals in this “The New Living Word School” apart from the Orwellian name. First is, as I mentioned, corporate welfare. When corporation do not need to actually compete for their blank checks, nor produce any real product. Other goal is to de-professionalized teaching which suppose to eliminate what is left from the middle class, livable wage and of course dismembers unions who are the last obstruction for the wealthy from having even more. Ironically the ones who the education system could do without – or rather would do better – are administrators. Any administrative decision can be made by a computer, a good secretary or a committee of teachers. The system has to be run democratically – I am well aware that the term ‘Democracy’ is a dirty word and might offend some people – Educational co-ops will be run by professionals for a change – teachers – and the community. It will get rid of incompetent management – which is the case in public education, or high paid low performing management – the case in the semi private charters. It might save enormous amount of money, and for the first time will put students, community and teachers first – not profits and hedge fund managers.
But that will not stand. Good education might lead to informed citizens. People who read, know, are curious and professional, Participants in the democratic process, not spectators, who might question the disparity, poverty, fraud and exploitation that have been exercised inflicted and used by the few elites – political and financial – in order accumulate all this wealth on the account of the many.
People might question why the wealthiest nation on earth has almost quarter of its children in or under the poverty line. or why are we in a perpetual war, or why haven’t we done anything to offset global warming? But Isn’t it just easier to show an overcrowded class a DVD?
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I AM SO SCARED OF THIS
In Calcasieu Parish, Eternity Christian Academy had 14 students in 2010. They applied for 135 seats. They will potentially receive more than $1,000,000. Why were these schools checked out!
http://www.eternitychristianacademy.org
[…] I mentioned in a previous post, the New Living Word School has offered to nearly quadruple its student enrollment, from 122 to […]
So I assume the article is being tongue and cheek when it suggests parents ought to pull their children out of tuition based school with presumably higher standards and place them in a lower achieving school long enough to gain a voucher to return to the private school on the State’s dime. That’s the author being facetious. I get it. It’s the tone I find distasteful. Isn’t the point education? If the voucher program is economically unjust then why not argue the state ought to put the voucher funding into the D and F schools? Would parents who could otherwise afford the tuition then send their children to public schools? No. It’s entitlement that
Keeps the system disproportinate. Everyone has a NIMBY approach to education. Ostensibly they say better schools but what both Jindal and this blogger fail to see is the money has to come from somewhere and no one is willing to pony up the cash. SAD.
If you have been following my blogs about Louisiana, you would know that in my view, the tuition schools very likely have lower standards than the so-called failing public schools. Children in Louisiana will be taking taxpayer dollars to schools that lack facilities or teachers, that teach creationism, and that do not provide a quality education. What part of this picture “improves” education?
New Living Word School uses A Beka Homeschooling Program. From their website at http://www.nlwm.org/catchup.php :
“Pastor Baldwin, and his passion and dedication in assisting youth to be successful academically, created a remedy for this problem by teaming up with the A-Beka Christian Academy Homeschooling Program and creating a 12 month program for students that are behind to catch up into their correct grade.”
Learn more about the problems with A Beka programs at http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/5/25/84149/9275
Also see a short preview or full 34-minute movie on A Beka and Bob Jones textbooks being used in Pennsylvania schools receiving corporate tax credit funding embedded in the following article.
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/6/27/151131/081