Katrina’s Silver Lining: The School Choice Revolution in New Orleans
Before hurricane Katrina ravaged the city in 2005, New Orleans had one of the worst performing public school districts in the nation. Katrina forced nearly a million people to leave their homes and caused almost $100 billion in damages. To an already failing public school system, the storm seemed to provide the final deathblow. But then something amazing happened. In the wake of Katrina, education reformers decided to seize the opportunity and start fresh with a system based on choice.
Today, New Orleans has the most market-based school system in the US. Sixty percent of New Orleans students currently attend charter schools, test scores are up, and talented and passionate educators from around the country are flocking to New Orleans to be a part of the education revolution. It’s too early to tell if the New Orleans experiment in school choice will succeed over the long term, but for the first time in decades people are optimistic about the future of New Orleans schools.
Approximately 10 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine; hosted by Nick Gillespie; shot by Alex Manning and Dan Hayes; edited by Alex Manning.
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Duration : 0:9:53
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Interesting, but …
Interesting, but they leave out that these schools are using uniforms. Do all public schools in NO require uniforms? It is important to know that if you are going to compare the charter schools to other public schools.
Freedom *works*.
…
Freedom *works*.
November.
Sounds like its …
Sounds like its working….I’m sure Obama will shut it down within the week.
@AshillaBeige I am …
@AshillaBeige I am from the deep south and I speak well with no “accent”. I sound like I’m from the Midwest. So I have to disagree with you to a point.
@drewstarr71 It’s …
@drewstarr71 It’s not so much that. The “black” accent is often just that: an accent.
And if a kid has horrible grammar but a PhD, who cares.
There are plenty of kids who have perfect grammar who are total sociopaths.
@hiphoprepublican …
@hiphoprepublican Not with that attitude
Watch out St. …
Watch out St. Tammany!
The superstitious …
The superstitious say ‘divine intervention’. The rest of us say ‘Hallelujah’. ;P
That made me a …
That made me a tough guy want to cry. Abolish the Dept of Egumacation. Bully for you teachers.
NOW THEY GOIN THRU …
NOW THEY GOIN THRU A OIL THANG…….NEW ORLEANS IS GETTING HIT BY EVERYTHING THIS CRUEL WORLD CAN OFFER
“If some men are …
“If some men are entitled by rights to products of the work of others, it means that those others being forced to provide are deprived of their rights and are condemned to slave labor. There can be no such thing as the right to enslave even for the welfare of others.” – Ayn Rand
Statist Progressives (Liberals, Socialists, Fascists & Communists) HATE liberty & promote Big Govt SLAVERY.
Watch: “Money as Debt” on YouTube! Debt & Fraud makes this all possible.
How are the schools …
How are the schools in Baton Rouge and Houston since Katrina? The hard working people went back and rebuilt their lives in New Orleans. What about those who milk the system for everything they can get? Are they still in Houston and Baton Rouge? It will be their kids that drag down the schools… a generalization, I know. Some individuals do over-come, but it is because they work hard and smartly.
@Justwosweet I …
@Justwosweet I think we have a semantic problem, lets focus on the two issues, first: Are you saying that one person has a right to another persons labor, money, or property? Second: The reality of pricing is a factor, if pricing were not a factor then why should we not spend $1M per student, per month? Or, why should teachers demand and form of compensation beyond a thank you. I real terms pricing is something we should all be interested in.
Rights and moral obligation are not the same thing
The Department of …
The Department of Education is not going anywhere, we need to think realistically and reform the system.
How can minority …
How can minority children succeed if they’re to busy being educated to develop adequately high levels of self-esteem?
@AshillaBeige Well …
@AshillaBeige Well if you care anything about the future of America you should. Even though that child is in a charter school she still can’t speak proper English. Also when she graduates and still speaks that way it’s a big FAIL for the charter school.
A system built on …
A system built on choice and competition works better than a system built on forcibly extorting money from the client? Wow, applying the obvious can bring great results.
It will take them a few years for free market principles to fix the destruction caused by incompetent government central planing. At least in New Orleans things are looking up!
@furyofbongos its a …
@furyofbongos its a step in the right direction, all the damage Government has done can’t be undone all at once. just be glad that the state is less involved in education than it was.
Great video. I just …
Great video. I just wish people would get it without the ‘help’ of a hurricane.
@44 financially …
@44 financially bankrupt, morally bankrupt, … WTF? Was there 50 minutes of history, 50 minutes of math, and 50 minutes of per day? (To borrow a punchline from Lenny Bruce.) LOL.
But sure, I get it. It’s immoral to steal money from one person to educate another person’s kids.
so, depopulation …
so, depopulation has benefits?
Good job Nick …
Good job Nick Gillespie; I really enjoyed this episode. Please put on a suit.
@anarchylogic Then …
@anarchylogic Then you should move off somewhere that doesn’t educate their children. Look at some slaves. It is a right. The part that helps is getting to shop around for a working school with good teachers. It doesn’t matter if the price is the same. Non working schools would lose funding because you get the choice whatever school you want instead of being stuck in districts. Flooding the poorest districts and losing those students and schools all over the country probably is the biggest facto
Great story. Almost …
Great story. Almost wish we could have Katrina here in Ohio. The schools keep getting worse and always want more and more money, higher and higher property tax. I don’t think our schools are really run to serve the kids and the community. Our schools here are run to provide good jobs to teachers.
I really like that …
I really like that principal. Also, the graphics guy did a really good job with that video.