Statewide application period opens for participation in the Louisiana Scholarship Program

The Louisiana Federation for Children (LFC), the state’s voice for educational choice, today announced the opening of the statewide application period to participate in the Louisiana Scholarship Program.

Beginning Tuesday (Jan. 10), students from across Louisiana can apply to participate in the program, which empowers low-income families with the same opportunity as more affluent parents – the financial resources to send their child to the school of their choice.

Click here to learn how to apply: www.lascholarshipprogram.org

Students enrolled in a Louisiana public school rated C, D, F or T – or entering kindergarten for the first time – are eligible to participate in the program.

“The Louisiana Scholarship Program gives parents access to a high-quality education in a safe and secure learning environment,” said Ann Duplessis, president of the Louisiana Federation for Children. “The scholarship program serves as a lifeline to thousands of Louisiana schoolchildren from low-income families who would otherwise have to attend an underperforming public school.”

Families across the state may apply online (www.lascholarshipprogram.org) or in person at the participating school of their choice now through Feb. 24. Award letters will be mailed by the Louisiana Department of Education in April.

Across the state, 123 schools in 31 parishes/school districts participate in the Louisiana Scholarship Program. More than 6,500 students are currently enrolled in the scholarship program.

Enacted in 2008 by a bipartisan group of legislators, the Louisiana Scholarship Program has the strongest and most transparent accountability measures of any program in the nation. Every child in the program comes from a low-income family. With 89 percent minority participation, the program gives many of Louisiana’s most at-risk students the opportunity to choose the education that best fits their individual needs.

Louisiana Scholarship Program Facts:

  • Schools participating in the Louisiana Scholarship Program are held accountable for academic outcomes through one of the most rigorous nonpublic school choice accountability systems in the nation. Schools must meet performance goals based on student achievement results yearly, with swift consequences for schools that fail to meet expectations.
  • In the past five years, we have seen the achievement gap between Louisiana Scholarship Program students’ scores and the statewide public school average cut almost in half – from 32 percent to 18 percent.
  • Were Louisiana’s private school voucher program considered a school system for purposes of analysis, it would have ranked ninth out of seventy-one systems across the state in 2015 for annual performance improvement.
  • 95 percent of scholarship program parents are happy with their child’s academic performance (2016 Parental Satisfaction Survey).

Apply to participate in the Louisiana Scholarship Program: www.lascholarshipprogram.org

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The Louisiana Federation for Children (LFC), the state’s voice for educational choice, is a project of the American Federation for Children and the AFC Growth Fund. LFC is dedicated to promoting educational choice by protecting, growing and expanding scholarship programs for low and middle-income children.

Ann Duplessis is a former state legislator where she served on the Senate Education Committee and fought successfully to expand educational options for Louisiana’s children by authoring and supporting numerous pieces of school choice legislation. Duplessis resides in New Orleans and remains active in numerous civic activities.

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