School Choice Is Coming to Louisiana

Louisiana was once a pioneer in school choice. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans rebuilt its schools as an all-charter system. The state enacted a private-school voucher program in 2008, when Bobby Jindal was governor—one of the first states to establish private-school choice statewide.

But Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has stood in the way since he took office in 2016. Last year he vetoed two bills that would have allowed all families with children who weren’t reading at grade level or had special needs to take their state-funded education dollars to schools of their choice.