re: Somebody please explain Landry's "school choice" plan to me like I'm 5.

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Private schools are more than just catholic schools. Why this board hates on Catholics is beyond me. There are Episcopalian, Baptist, non-denominational, non-religious and secular private schools. There are schools dedicated to arts and music. Others focus heavily on stem. Competition will keep costs down.

For you less informed, there are less kids on Louisiana than 2 decades ago. The competition to have these kids in a school means these schools survive. If the schools don’t perform well then they will fail. Ultimately, something with a better idea or better model will take over these schools and attract students

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You said it well.

When I first heard of it during an interview on WWL, I looked at it as Landry is pissed at the public school system, that it costs too much, and there is no motivation for the school to improve itself.

Giving the money to the parents gives them power and choice. Public schools will finally be run like a business. I always get entertained wathcing a public school board meeting with the irate parents complaining and the school board having the demeanor of "well what are you going to do about it? You are stuck in our district so you get what you get and do what we say."

It gives those parents the ability to say flip off and take their kids somewhere else.

Many public schools will go defunct.

On paper I think it is a good idea, but I agree with a previous poster that current private school families who barely make ends meet in order to protect and better their child (yes there are many PS families like this) are the ones who will suffer.