How much do vouchers cost La.?

The Legislative Fiscal Office is duking it out with the Louisiana Department of Education over how much the Louisiana Scholarship Program actually costs the state.

In the 2015 Louisiana Nonpublic School Choice Annual Report released Feb. 19, the Louisiana Department of Education said the program saved $23,626,260 for the 2014-15 school year statewide.

According to a report issued Monday by the Legislative Fiscal Office, however, the program costs Louisiana taxpayers an additional $8.3 million compared to what the minimum foundation program allotment would be.

"It was based on data I received from the Louisiana Department of Education with current year enrollment and tuition information," Jodi Mauroner of the Legislative Fiscal Office, said. "Proposed reductions contained in the Governor’s Executive Budget recommendations for FY 17 could potentially impact state funding for the voucher program. The analysis concluded that should the program be downsized, or eliminated, it could actually result in a savings for the state if students were to return to public schools and were funded through the state’s Minimum Foundation Program formula, which is the primary funding mechanism for K-12 education."

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According to 2014-15 school year information from the LDOE, it paid schools the full tuition and required fees up to the maximum state allocation per student, which is what a public school receives for each student. The average LSP cost per student was $5,545. What the state contributes to each public school district varies, depending on local funding sources, but the average cost was $8,854 per student.

The Legislative Fiscal Office report states LSP "tuition shall not exceed the combined state and local per pupil amount of the district in which the student resides."

According to the Fiscal Office report, per the fiscal year 2016 MFP, "the average state per pupil amount is $5,196, and the average local per pupil amount is $3,686 for a combined per pupil average payment of $8,882. The average voucher payment in the first quarter was $5,852 or $656 more than the state average," and the LDOE bases the $23 million savings on the $8,882 average.

Ken Pastorick, media information director for the LDOE, said the difference comes from how his department and the Legislative Fiscal Office calculated the costs. He said the Fiscal Office looked at only the funds that come from the state, but the LDOE looked at what the program saved the local taxpayers.

The Legislative Fiscal Office report notes "the state pays the combined state and local share, which actually represents an increased cost for the state. Local school districts do not see a reduction in revenue collections even though that student is not enrolled in local schools."

Monroe City Schools Superintendent Brent Vidrine said local funds come from constituents who set specific parameters on how those funds can be used when they pass a tax. Scholarship schools get the MFP funds that public school districts normally would get, so the MFP funds are used elsewhere.

If a student moves from a private school to a public school after the Oct. 1 or Feb. 1 counts used to distribute the MFP, Vidrine said, the private school gets the funds and the public school the student moves to has to educate the child with no financial assistance.

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In Northeastern Louisiana, nine private schools in four parishes participate in the Louisiana Scholarship Program.

The total program costs the state approximately $42 million a year, according to the Legislative Fiscal Office. Twenty parishes account for 89 percent of the participants and cost $9,596,276 more than what it would to send the same students to public schools. The remaining 748 participants in another 12 parishes constitute a savings of $1,269,152 for the state.

Monroe City Schools has the seventh-highest LSP enrollment numbers per district in the state with 233 students attending LSP schools, which according to the Legislative Fiscal Office, costs the state an additional $215,471. It makes up 3 percent of the program's total costs.

In Union Parish, 66 students attend school on a voucher, which according to the Legislative Fiscal Office, costs the state an additional $5,996. Those students are among 416 statewide with tuition less than the MFP amount.

The Louisiana Scholarship Program was designed to give parents an alternative to sending their children to poorly performing public schools by allowing them to choose participating private schools. The LSP launched in 2008 and was expanded statewide in the 2012-13 school year. In the 2015-16 school year, 7,110 students are participating.

Eighty-three public schools in Northeastern Louisiana were scored a C, D or F on annual performance reviews. Students who normally would attend these schools can apply for the Louisiana scholarship program. Those students must meet residency requirements, be attending first- through 12th-graders or be entering kindergarten for the first time.

Participating schools, in accordance with Article 8, Section 4 of the Louisiana State Constitution, are expected to provide a curriculum of equal quality to that provided by similar public schools. The LDOE verifies that.

The program also is called the voucher program or the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence
Program.

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