Hundreds of parents, children, teachers and administrators rallied on the steps of the Capitol calling on lawmakers to find a new way to fund private school vouchers, chanting "You promised/ to put kids first."
The old way to fund vouchers was ruled unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court last week because it routed money through a formula -- called theMFP-- that is dedicated to public schools.
While the rally was happening on the capitol steps, the Senate Education Committee decided to send the proposedMFPfor next year back to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Chairman ConradAppelsaid the wording, which still included vouchers, wouldn’t pass legal muster.
BESE later acknowledged that it sent a draft of theMFPto the legislature by accident.BESEasked the committee to consider instead the version it had actually approved, which severed the voucher provision based on the court ruling.
Gov.Jindaland the state Dept. of Education are appealing to the legislature to add a $45 million line item to the state budget to pay for vouchers outside theMFPnext year (the department says the allocation for public schools in the MFP could be reduced by $45 million and that there would be no net cost to the state to due to continuing the voucher program). Superintendent John White said in a conference call that these item may signal a need to revamp education budgeting.
“We have thousands of parents asking for things not in theMFP," said White. "In the long run, we’ll have to find a way to fund education differently in this state.”
Governor BobbyJindalhas said if vouchers aren’t funded by the end of the session, he’ll call lawmakers back into a special session.
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