“The huge calamity of Katrina and the need to rebuild the Gulf Coast provides Congress and state legislatures with the opportunity to implement big ideas that could begin to transform America in the first decade of the 21st century. We have a golden opportunity to “green line” the Delta and Gulf Coast with government policies that facilitate and empower the private sector and private citizens.”

-Jack Kemp, Human Events, Sept. 2005

Before the flood waters had receded and long before the dead had been counted, the privatization vultures were circling. What was seen was a New Orleans to be molded in the white, conservative image of “free market” capitalism that excluded even the most basic needs of the people whose lives had been thrown in the chaos and whose families had been dispersed across the U.S. in a manner not much unlike enslaved Africans who saw their families sold off and scattered to the four winds.

What we have seen is black employment diminished by in influx of cheap (and too often, illegal) labor; black businesses debilitated due to contracts going to large, out of state operations; black families not being able to rebuild their lives due to delays in aid and, in some cases, flat-out fraud. Now, we can add public education to the list of victims.

Conservatives have long held on to the notion that government-funded programs don’t work and they prove it by trying to choke the life out of them when they’re in power. It’s like cutting a man’s legs off and then complaining about how slow a runner he is.

So, it’s little surprise that privatized charter schools have popped up all over New Orleans.

Now, let’s step back a little. Over the last several years, Republicans pushed for school vouchers in D.C. By doing so, this meant that money would come out of private schools and into public schools. The idea was that parents could get their kids out of “failing” schools and into schools where the educational opportunities were better. This all sounds good, right? Then, answer this, why weren’t these politicians able to get these initiatives going in their own states? Perhaps, the devil in in the details.

You see, in a nutshell, this whole plan had a fatal flaw — not just any student could benefit. You see, private schools, to maintain their elite attractiveness, rely on keeping a certain academic standard. So, it takes more than a voucher to get your child into such a school. These schools get to cherry-pick the best and brightest. So, if your kid’s not at the top of the academic pile, you’re out of luck. Also, given the level of students they expect, it is very unlikely that much is offered in the way of remedial help to get your child up to speed. However, these type of programs would exist in a properly-funded public educational system. But, remember, Republicans don’t like government money going to help people.

This brings us back to New Orleans. Shortly after Katrina hit, the state assumed control of the school and, as a result, 107 of the 128 school in the Orleans district were privatized, some run by for-profit companies and all funded by taxpayer dollars. Republicans also got a double-bonus because this privatization meant that some 4,200 unionized teachers lost their jobs.

In an interview with Democracy Now!, Nat LaCour, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers, discusses what’s going on with public education in New Orleans. Look at what he said about the changes in the city’s school system:

Now, that was bad for the adults, but the second tragedy here is when you have young people, school-aged children, particularly elementary students, who experience a tragedy in their life — certainly Katrina was one — what all of the professionals will say to you is that the first thing that you need to do is to get those children back in a normal setting as much as possible. That would mean returning these kids, opening the schools, so that they could be with their schoolmates and the teachers and the staff that they have come to know.

Instead, the schools were closed, for the people who wanted to come back or for the people that were here, in order to accommodate this experiment with — I would call it control. Many of the schools that opened as charter schools have selected admission policies, which means they get to determine which students will attend and which students will not. And so, what you have here, if the population is not careful, you set up an elitist-type school system, and we need to avoid that.

Remember what I said about cherry-picking? With most of the schools privatized, instead of giving families “school choice”, like we have been misled to believe, they are actually having their choices further limited as schools can easily decided that a child does not meet the standards to attend that school.

So, the next time you hear voucher, privatization or “school choice”, research the offer and ask the critical questions. Your children’s educational futures may be riding on them.

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