Memorandum

To: John White, LA State Superintendent of Education

From: Courtney Gunter and Aidan Busch, Policy Analysts

Subject: Improving Louisiana's School Voucher Program

Date: November 1, 2018

Introduction

The Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) was enacted and launched in 2008 in New

Orleans but spread statewide in 2012 (Abdulkadiroglu, Pathak & Walters, 2016). In the 2016-

2017 school year, the program served 6,995 participating students across 120 participating

schools. About 30% of students across the state are qualified to participate in the voucher

program (Louisiana Scholarship Program, 2018). The program qualifications are as follows:

students must have a family income that does not exceed 250% of the Federal Poverty Line. This

means that a family must make less than $62,750 per year to qualify (Department of Health and

Human Services, 2018). Eligible students must also be Louisiana residents entering kindergarten

or be enrolled in a public school with a C, D, or F letter grade (Louisiana Scholarship Program

Family FAQ). One requirement compels schools to adhere to recommendations through a very

rigorous questionnaire outlined in Brumfield vs. Dodd, a 1975 Supreme Court case that tackled

discrimination in Louisiana schools.

The LSP voucher system has the potential to level the playing field among students, but it

has not been implemented well; the program could be improved upon in the areas of diversity,

school participation, and public awareness in order to ensure all Louisiana students receive a

quality education.
Evidence

Some researchers have expressed concern that voucher programs will lead to

discrimination, self-selection, and increased levels of segregation within the school system.

Issues of segregation are especially relevant in Louisiana due to the fact that until the 1969-70

school year, Jim Crow laws were in place that enforced “dual racially segregated system of pupil

assignment” (Brumfield v. Dodd, 1975). One study found that schools tend to become more

segregated when voucher programs were used (Potter, 2017). However, the researcher qualified

these results by demonstrating that these findings are from scenarios where the vouchers are

universally available or there are no safeguards in place to protect diversity. A study on the

Cleveland school system confirmed this (Forster, 2006). In addition, one study that specifically

looked at LSP found that the voucher program reduces racial stratification at best, and increased

it by statistically insignificant amounts at worst (Egalite et al., 2017)

Voucher programs also have an impact on state budgets and how school districts are

financed. The research is somewhat inconclusive as to whether or not voucher programs affect

budgets positively or negatively, but there is an indication that it has some positive effect. For

example, one 2012 study found highly variable results when school districts lost state funding

due to students moving to charter or private schools. Some districts were able to decrease their

expense at a similar or increased rate that they lost students, while others were not (Scafidi,

2012). It appears that whether or not public schools are negatively affected (fiscally speaking) by

the loss of students to voucher programs depends largely on the districts themselves. Taxes are

also a factor when considering voucher programs. A study of the Wisconsin voucher program

found that overall, taxpayers benefited from the program because the voucher cost was lower
than the state per-pupil amount. However, these benefits were disproportionately spread across

the state, with Milwaukee residents bearing the brunt of the tax burden (Costrell, 2010).

Two recent studies of the LSP found that student achievement in the areas of reading,

math, science, and social studies are negatively impacted by the use of vouchers

(Abdulkadiroglu, Pathak & Walters, 2016; Mills et al., 2015). However, these two studies

analyzed student progress after one year of participation in the voucher program. A new study

presents the impact on student achievement after three years: students who are able to attend

their first-choice private school due to LSP are for the most part performing similarly to control

students. Moreover, the finding suggests that there are positive results for English Language Arts

and negative results for mathematics, but these differences are not statistically significant (Mills

& Wolf, 2017). The study showed positive improvement among student who initially performed

in the bottom third of ELA achievement. In sum, the study proposes that the results after year

one and two are negative, but there are no noteworthy differences after year three. In addition,

students who were able to attend their first-choice school using their LSP scholarship are

approximately 31% more likely to still be enrolled in an LSP school three years later.

Recommendations

1) LSP’s efforts to counteract the history of racial stratification have been successful.

Research shows that racial stratification tends to increase in programs that have universal

participation and low accountability for diversity (Egalite et al., 2017; Forster, 2006; Potter,

2017). LSP should raise its school grade threshold to ensure that segregation does not occur.

Voucher programs that specifically target low-income students decrease levels of segregation

(Egalite et al., 2017). Currently, LSP accepts students attending schools with C or lower grades.

This threshold is too high and allows for participation rates that actually lead to more
segregation. LSP should restrict the use of vouchers to low income students by raising the grade

threshold and decreasing the minimum income requirements. This way, LSP will benefit the

students who need the help while ensuring schools remain diverse.

2) Studies show that negative results associated with LSP are a result of the small

selection of schools available. Participating schools charge relatively low tuition and experience

decreasing enrollment before entering the program. This indicates that LSP attracts lower-quality

schools that are struggling to maintain their enrollment levels (Abdulkadiroglu, Pathak &

Walters, 2016). Currently, participating schools are required to administer more standardized

tests than traditional public schools (Louisiana Scholarship Program, 2018). Administering fewer

standardized tests will incentivize higher-quality schools to participate in the program and leave

more time throughout the school year for learning.

3) Research demonstrates that student performance improves the longer they participate

in LSP (Mills &Wolf, 2017). Therefore, it would be helpful to implement a public information

campaign to raise awareness of the benefits, requirements, and goals of the program. Schools

should host information nights open to the community. Attendees would hear about the

advantages of the program and have an opportunity to learn more about whether it would benefit

their child specifically. These efforts will result in steadier participation rates and higher student

achievement.
 References

Abdulkadiroglu, A., Pathak, P. A., & Walters, C. R. (2016). School vouchers and student

achievement: First-year evidence from the Louisiana Scholarship Program (NBER

Working Paper No. 21839). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

Brumfield v. Dodd (United States District Court, E. D. Louisiana. December 2, 1975).

Costrell, Robert M. The Fiscal Impact of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: 20102011

Update and Policy Options (Fayetteville, Arkansas: School Choice Demonstration

Project, 2010), 1-4.

Egalite, A. J., Mills, J. N., & Wolf, P. J. (2017). The Impact of Targeted School Vouchers on

Racial Stratification in Louisiana Schools. Education and Urban Society, 49(3), 271–296.

Forster, G., Ph.D. (2006). Segregation Levels in Cleveland Public Schools and the Cleveland

Voucher Program (Rep.).

Louisiana Scholarship Program. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2018, from

https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/programs/louisiana-scholarship-program/

Louisiana Scholarship Program Family FAQ [Pamphlet]. (2017). Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana

Department of Education.

Mills, J. N., Sude, Y., & Wolf, P. J. (2015). An evaluation of cognitive and non-cognitive skills

in the Louisiana Scholarship Program. Thirty-seventh Annual Fall Research Meetings of

the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, November 12-14, 2015,

Miami, FL.

Mills, J. N., & Wolf, P. J. (2017). The Effects of the Louisiana Scholarship Program on Student

Achievement After Three Years (Rep.). Education Research Alliance.

Potter, H. (2017). Do Private School Vouchers Pose a Threat to Integration? (Rep.). The

Century Foundation.

Poverty Guidelines: United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2018, January

12). Retrieved October 19, 2018, from https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines

Scafidi, Benjamin. The Fiscal Effects of School Choice Programs on Public School Districts

(Indianapolis, Indiana: Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, 2012).