Legislature approves Education Savings Accounts

By Kim Roberts
Clarion Herald

The Louisiana Senate followed the lead of the House of Representatives May 31 and voted to phase in state-funded Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) to help parents defray the cost of tuition for private or Catholic schools, home-schooling or tutoring.

SB 313 creates the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (LA GATOR) scholarship program to provide educational savings accounts for parental choice in K-12.

Currently, the bill does not provide a specific funding amount for families other than the existing scholarship – or voucher – program for students. 

According to Tom Costanza, executive director Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, as it stands now, the first priority will be special needs students and families whose earnings are 250% of the poverty guidelines, along with the current scholarship students. The current voucher program supports approximately 5,500 students state-wide, and the program utilizes $40 million in state funding.

Study to be conducted

“The ESA bill includes a framework supportive of non-public schools that includes the ability to use nationally referenced norm testing and admission criteria in line with our Catholic identity,” Costanza said. “The bill states that there will be a study of all schools conducted by the Department of Education (DOE) and BESE (Board of Elementary and Secondary Education), with a report due to the Appropriations Committee this December.”

Between now and December the DOE and BESE will gather data to determine student eligibility, allocation amounts and report to the Legislature annually. BESE will make recommendations on how much money will go into the ESA account, as well as how much each student will receive.

“Nothing new will happen this upcoming school year except for fact-finding and gathering information for the report,” Costanza said. “In the fall of 2025, at the very minimum, the voucher program will begin to be phased out and the ESA put in place for the current scholarship students. If there is more money available, it will be allocated to the special needs students and then to the other families that fall within the 250% poverty guideline criteria.”

Governor’s support

Gov. Jeff Landry said during press conferences at Archbishop Rummel High School and Mary Queen of Peace Elementary School in Mandeville that he expects this rollout to take at least five years to get to the universal level, where any family at any level is able to utilize funds for tuition. 

Costanza said he is glad the governor has made the bill one of his priorities. He recognizes that the implementation will be slow, but he thinks there is a will and understanding in this Legislature and is hopeful they will be able to find the money that is needed.

“I am grateful we have a solid religious framework that is able to maintain our testing and admissions process without government interference,” Costanza said. “It respects our Catholic identity and prioritizes special needs students and low-income families, but this will take a while to get to the struggling, middle-income, working-class families. We are trying to get to everyone, no matter how much money we are able to get to them, to help with tuition.”

Dr. RaeNell Houston, superintendent of archdiocesan Catholic schools, said during the press conference with the governor, the archdiocese has a lot of middle-class families who are struggling to pay tuition and are working two or three jobs to make ends meet and paying tuition for their kids to get a good education, and they need to be included in the ESA as well.

“As the first and primary educators of their children, parents should be empowered to make decisions that are best for their children and families,” Houston said. “It is my hope that the LA GATOR Scholarship will give all parents the opportunity to achieve the goals they have set for their children, both academically and spiritually.”

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