re: Can someone explain TOPS to me?

I agree in theory, but I added that for two reasons.

First, it does kind of feel like a hand out, at least in its current form, and it's hard to justify a kid from a home with an income of $100k in Louisiana needing a hand out. If we raise the standards it would feel more like a scholarship, and I think I would be more comfortable not having it being means-tested.

Second, the argument will be raising standards disproportionately harms minorities, so by being means-tested it is more politically likely to be tolerable, since the counter is by denying it you are denying the lower income kids/minorities an opportunity. It's not a good argument, but we've seen the struggles to close failing schools like SUNO, and even the argument when TOPS was threatened last year, so it needs to at least be considered when thinking of reforms. Unfortunately Louisiana is the reddest socialist state in the Union, everyone hates hand outs until theirs is threatened.