FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 25, 2026

Contact: Keiara Skipper
kskipper@edtrust.org

The State of School Choice in Louisiana
Statement from Tramelle Howard, J.D., State Director, EdTrust in Louisiana

BATON ROUGE, LA – When we talk about public school choice in Louisiana, the conversation should begin and end with a simple question: Is a student getting the education they need to thrive?

Parents know their children better than anyone, and families should have access to high-quality public school options that meet their children’s academic, social, and individual needs. For some families, that may be their neighborhood public school. For others, it may be a public charter school with a different instructional model or approach. What matters most is not the label on the building, but the quality of the education happening inside it.

That distinction is particularly important in Louisiana. Charter schools are public schools, and they educate a significant share of our students. The latest federal data show that more than 95,000 Louisiana students attended public charter schools in 2022-23, representing about 13% of statewide public-school enrollment. And in New Orleans, charters are the public education system for virtually every family: during the 2025-26 school year, 70 of the city’s 71 public schools were charter schools, serving nearly all its 46,000 public-school students.

To provide meaningful public school choice across the range of options available to families, we need to understand how well every public school is delivering the high-quality education every student deserves. Being able to answer the following questions is paramount: Are students learning? Are Black students, students from low-income backgrounds, English learners, and students with disabilities being well served? Are families being heard? And when a charter school produces strong outcomes, creates an environment where students belong, and expands access to opportunities families want, we should learn from and support that success.

At the same time, choice is not meaningful without quality and accountability. That is an important reason we continue to oppose private school vouchers. Moving public dollars into private schools that are not held to the same standards of transparency, access, and public accountability will weaken the public education system that serves the overwhelming majority of Louisiana children.

This conversation does not have to be reduced to “choice versus public schools.” Charters are public schools. Our responsibility is to build a strong public education system with excellent options within it, while demanding results and accountability from every school receiving public dollars.

Families deserve meaningful choices. But above all else, every Louisiana child deserves a great public school.