NEW ORLEANS (AP) - New Orleans residents may be warming to the idea of the local school board regaining control of the public schools it lost after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The state of Louisiana took control of most New Orleans public schools after the catastrophic flooding after levees failed in the storm. Before Katrina, the New Orleans school system was known for the poor performance of students and corruption among some administrators and board members.
Some high-performing schools were left with the New Orleans school system after Katrina, but the state’s Recovery School District took over scores of schools and eventually turned daily operations of each over to independent charter organizations. Through the years, student performance has edged up. Meanwhile, political pressure to return schools to local control has grown. Lawmakers approved a plan last year to return the schools, more than 50 of them, to the local board.
Tulane University’s Cowen Institute said its annual poll on the public perception of education in New Orleans shows 45 percent of respondents favor the move - up from 38 percent last year. Twenty-three percent said they opposed the move, down from 32 percent in 2016.
Cowen’s report on the survey said it’s not time yet to say the findings constitute a trend - in part because this year’s voter survey included a higher percentage of parents than last year’s, which could influence some of the answers. Also, the institute noted that 49 percent of respondents acknowledged they were unfamiliar with the process implemented to return the schools to local control, which was approved by state lawmakers last year.
The more than 50 schools overseen by the RSD are now independently run charter schools. They are to remain so under the new law. The Orleans Parish School Board will assume the RSD’s administrative authority and its role in deciding whether to renew or revoke charters. The transfer is to be completed as early as mid-2018.
The Cowen Institute’s poll indicates room for continued progress in New Orleans schools in the eyes of the public. Although 33 percent of the respondents said schools are getting better, 36 percent said they are staying the same and 17 percent said they are getting worse. Only 3 percent would give public schools an A grade; 23 percent, a B; 42 percent, a C; 15 percent, a D; and 8 percent, an F.
The move to charter schools is seen positively by most respondents: 63 percent said charter schools have improved New Orleans public education.
The survey was conducted by telephone in April by Market Research Insight. The institute said 700 randomly drawn registered voters were surveyed and that the margin for error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.