Jindal's "vouchers to nowhere" plan passes the LA House

Earlier this week the Baton Rouge Advocate opined against the Governor's scheme to de-fund public education in Louisiana, calling it a "vouchers to nowhere" plan.

The reality is that there are at most a few thousand spaces in private schools. Many of those schools might not choose to take the vouchers at all, particularly the elite institutions. The idea that even 10,000 new places might become available through new construction is so financially difficult to accomplish for private education that we doubt they will be available any time soon.

So for all the rhetoric about taking children out of failing schools, the voucher plan simply doesn’t. And in the state’s small-scale version of a voucher program in New Orleans, it is evident that even some of the private schools — for a few, test scores are available — can fail children educationally.

The voucher plan appears to be a political statement aimed at matching those Republican governors in other states who have achieved some form of a statewide voucher program.

Moments ago, the House version of Jindal's horribly flawed political statement passed by a vote of 61 to 42. Voting in favor of the vouchers to nowhere Republican political statement was State Rep Austin Badon. Badon is a candidate for City Council At Large in this weekend's election. Voters might like to know that he prioritizes the Governor's fantastical political statements above the the interests of the city's school aged children. Or maybe they don't care.

Update: Here's the T-P's Bill Barrow's report on Jindal's education agenda as of 11:00 this evening (the House is currently still debating the tenure reform). Barrow writes.

Together, the charter, voucher and tenure changes -- all reflective of policy orthodoxy among Republican governors across the country -- would put Jindal alongside other past and current GOP state executives such as Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Jeb Bush of Florida and Chris Christie of New Jersey who successfully remade the traditional model for public education into a partly privatized system championed by religious conservatives, many business lobbies and libertarian-oriented think tanks.

Council candidate Badon is supporting Jindal's privatization agenda.

Upperdate: Daily Kingfish names the Democrats in the LA House who voted in favor of Governor Jindal's program to gut public education. Note the New Orleans area names on the list.