Erin Bendily is senior vice president at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a think tank that pushed for passage of Louisiana’s new law creating education savings accounts.
Erin Bendily is senior vice president at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a think tank that pushed for passage of Louisiana’s new law creating education savings accounts.
It’s a new era for school choice in Louisiana.
On Saturday, applications opened for the LA GATOR Scholarship Program, which offers eligible families tax dollars to pay for private education. Also known as education savings accounts, the new scholarships will replace Louisiana’s school vouchers, which covered private school tuition for low-income families.
LA GATOR is like a supercharged voucher program, giving more options to more families. The publicly funded scholarships can pay for private tutoring, textbooks and other education expenses in addition to school tuition and fees.
Gov. Jeff Landry, who urged lawmakers to pass the LA GATOR bill, recently proposed putting nearly $94 million into it next school year — double what the state spent annually on the voucher program, which ends this year.
LA GATOR has been controversial. Critics say it will weaken public schools while propping up loosely regulated private schools, which vary widely in quality.
But proponents hail it as a major victory for “school choice,” or using public money to give families a variety of education options, including traditional public schools, online programs and private schools.
Erin Bendily is one of those proponents. A former Louisiana Department of Education official, she is the senior vice president at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, a think tank that pushed hard for the state to adopt a program like LA GATOR.
Now she is trying to help make it successful, which will require convincing private schools and education-service providers to participate and eligible parents to apply.
The Times-Picayune | The Advocate recently spoke to Bendily about LA GATOR and what it will look like in action. The interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
What inspired you to become an advocate for school choice?
I was homeschooled for a time, I went to several different public schools. My mom taught at a public school, she also taught at a private school. I have a sister with some special needs who struggled in certain environments and thrived in others.
So I feel like I have seen this from a number of different sides and really do believe that kids are different and have different learning styles, different challenges, different needs, different interests.
You need as many options as you possibly can get to serve the individual needs of your kids, because what works for one may not work for another.
For folks who are new to this, can you explain what an education savings account is?
The state essentially creates an account in the name of an eligible student and deposits a sum of state money into that account.
The family can use those funds for approved eligible expenses. Those expenses range from tuition and fees at a nonpublic school all the way to an individual course taught by a public school or a private school or an education-service provider.
A family desiring more of a home-based education can use those funds to purchase textbooks and curricula, computers, education supplies, educational services and therapies, tutoring, uniforms.
There’s no cash exchanged. Families use those funds in a closed marketplace where there are pre-approved schools and providers and vendors that offer these services and products.
Lower-income families will receive about $7,600 through LA GATOR. Is that enough for tuition and other expenses?
In some cases, the amount of the ESA scholarship will be sufficient to cover the entirety of their tuition and fee bill. In other cases, it may not and the family will need to work on their own or in partnership with the school to figure out how they pay for the remainder.
If there are funds leftover, then they could use those extra funds to pay for their child’s uniforms or reading or math tutoring after school. The truth is that it may not be the case in 100% of those situations.
Can public schools participate in LA GATOR?
I have been involved in a couple conversations recently with local school superintendents who are exploring ways that they can get involved in the program.
Public schools, many of them, are experiencing a decline in enrollment while we have seen homeschooling numbers go up in those same communities. This could be a way for them to draw families back to their schools.
A public school could say we’re going to offer these courses and these are the prices we’re going to attach to these courses. If you want to come and just take chemistry, it’s going to be X amount of dollars.
I think there’s an opportunity to blur the lines there between these siloes that we have created over the years between public and private and homeschooling.
Some private schools declined to participate in the voucher program because of its rules and regulations. Will more schools join LA GATOR?
I was at an event last week with lots of nonpublic school leaders who still I think we’re gathering information, asking a lot of questions about how is this different (than the voucher program). “Is this going to be the same as what we heard about and frankly decided not to opt into before, or is this something different?”
I’m certainly hoping and expecting to see more schools sign up because I believe the word is out that this is going to be a friendlier program, from their perspective, to protect their autonomy.
This is not going to be another case of really heavy-handed, top-down bureaucracy and red tape. Or an effort to try to turn their independent, nonpublic school into a government-run school.
How can the state ensure that participating private schools are high quality, which wasn’t always the case with the voucher program?
The law does require that nonpublic schools that are in the program be state-approved. That is not an easy process. That’s not just a little sheet of paper that you fill out and boom, you’re approved.
The state collects information about a number of things — your educational program, your facilities, health and safety, preparation of staff. There’s a lot that goes into that approval process.
But ultimately we have to remember that this is a parent-driven program. If a parent is not being well-served, I fully expect parents to make that known.
If families are not being well-served, they’re going to take their business elsewhere.
Will the proposed $93.5 million be enough for all eligible families who apply to LA GATOR next school year?
I think it’s a good starting point.
My understanding is that the Department of Education arrived at that number for the budget request by looking at enrollment patterns they have seen in other states and what they experienced in their first year of implementation.
How true will that be compared to actual I think is the big question. A lot of that might have to do with how effectively are we getting the word out to families that this is a program available to them.
When will families who aren’t eligible now be able to participate?
We don’t know when we’ll move from phase one to phase two (when higher-income families become eligible).
I do know it’s largely tied to a budget question: When does the state feel as though they’re ready to fund phase two?
But I also have told families very recently: It doesn’t cost you anything to apply. So why not go ahead and express your desire? This is your way to communicate to your lawmakers your demand and your desire for this program for your child.
Whether the state is going to be willing and able to fund that, we’ll have to see how that plays out.
How will you judge whether LA GATOR is a success?
We’ll be looking first and foremost to see, are families, schools and providers participating? Do they express a positive experience interacting with the (online) platform and the way payments are disbursed?
And ultimately do families feel like their kids are making progress? Are they feeling that their kids are happy and engaged in learning? Those are going to be the most important indicators of success.
Email Patrick Wall at patrick.wall@theadvocate.com.
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