Testimony Before the Louisiana House Committee on Retirement in Support of HB 745
Cameron Sholty, Executive Director
Heartland Impact
April 2, 2024
Chairman McFarland and Members of the Committee,
Thank you for holding this hearing on HB 745, the LA GATOR Scholarship Program, an education savings account (ESA) program that would be open to all Louisiana children by the 2027–28 school year.
My name is Cameron Sholty, and I am the executive director of Heartland Impact. Heartland Impact is the advocacy and outreach arm of The Heartland Institute. Both are independent, national, nonprofit organizations working to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Heartland specializes on providing state lawmakers the policy and advocacy resources to advance free-market policies towards broad-based economic prosperity.
These accounts would cover tuition, fees, and curricula for eligible children at private and parochial schools, as well as tutoring services, transportation costs, textbooks, supplemental course materials, supplemental technological devices, and educational therapies. Funds could also be used to cover the fees required to take national standardized achievement tests, such as the SAT or ACT, or AP examinations.
The program would begin with the 2025–26 school year and would be open to students who’s family household income is below 250 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly $78,000 for a family of four), and students previously enrolled in the Educational Excellence voucher program, students entering kindergarten, students previously enrolled in public schools.
For the 2026–27 school year, the household income threshold would increase to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (roughly $124,000 for a family of four), with all Pelican State students being eligible the following school year.
Each scholarship would be worth roughly $5,100 for students from households with incomes above 250 percent of the federal poverty level, $7,500 for students from households with income sat or below 250 of the federal poverty level, and $15,000 for students with special needs.
Copious empirical research[i] on school choice programs[ii] like the LA GATOR Scholarship Program makes clear these programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances, and that these programs improve academic performance and attainment and deliver a quality education at lower cost than traditional public schools. Additionally, education choice benefits public school students and taxpayers by increasing competition, decreasing segregation, and improving civic values and practices.
Research also shows students at private schools are less likely than their public school peers to experience problems such as alcohol abuse, bullying, drug use, fighting, gang activity, racial tension, theft, vandalism, and weapon-based threats.[iii] There is also a strong causal link suggesting private school choice programs improve the mental health of participating students.[iv]
Further, Louisiana’s public schools are habitually failing the state’s children. In 2022, only 27 percent[v] of public school fourth-graders and 19 percent[vi] of eighth-graders tested “proficient” to grade level in mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examination, colloquially known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Just 28 percent[vii] of fourth-graders and 27 percent[viii] of eighth-graders tested “proficient” in reading. Essentially, and embarrassingly, the state’s public schools are failing to educate roughly eight out of ten Louisiana children to grade-level proficiency in reading and math.
It is probably these dismal results, and because teacher unions have repeatedly played politics with school closings during the COVID-19 pandemic in direct conflict with students’ best interests, that education choice programs like ESAs are more popular with parents than ever before. Polling on this issue in Louisiana from EdChoice’s “Public Opinion Tracker,” last updated on March 5, finds 64 percent of all Pelican State adults and 74 of parents with school-aged children are in favor of an ESA program like GATOR Scholarships.[ix]
The goal of public education in Louisiana today and in the years to come should be to allow all parents to choose which schools their children attend, require every school to compete for every student who walks through its doors, and make sure every child can attend a quality school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances. With the LA GATOR Scholarship Program, the Pelican State would be much, much closer to reaching that goal. There has not been a time when providing these opportunities has been more urgent and more needed than right now. I urge you to pass HB 745.
Thank you for your time.
Heartland Impact can send an expert to your state to testify or brief your caucus; host an event in your state; or send you further information on a topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! If you have any questions or comments, contact Cameron Sholty, at csholty@heartlandimpact.org or 312/377- 4000.
[i] EdChoice, The ABCs of School Choice (2024 Edition), November 13, 2023, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2024-ABCs-of-School-Choice.pdf.
[ii] Greg Forster, A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice (Fourth Edition), EdChoice, May 18, 2016, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/A-Win-Win-Solution-The-Empirical-Evidence-on-School-Choice.pdf.
[iii] M. Danish Shakeel & Corey A. DeAngelis, “Can private schools improve school climate? Evidence from a nationally representative sample,” Journal of School Choice, Volume 12, Issue 3, August 8, 2018, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15582159.2018.1490383?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=wjsc20.
[iv] Corey DeAngelis & Angela K. Dills, The Effects of School Choice on Mental Health, October 29, 2018, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3272550.
[v] National Center for Education Statistics, “2022 Mathematics State Snapshot Report – Louisiana – Grade 4,” accessed March 29, 2024, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2022/pdf/2023011LA4.pdf.
[vi] National Center for Education Statistics, “2022 Mathematics State Snapshot Report – Louisiana – Grade 8,” accessed March 29, 2024, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2022/pdf/2023011LA8.pdf.
[vii] National Center for Education Statistics, “2022 Reading State Snapshot Report – Louisiana – Grade 4,” accessed March 29, 2024, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2022/pdf/2023010LA4.pdf.
[viii] National Center for Education Statistics, “2022 Reading State Snapshot Report – Louisiana- Grade 8,” accessed March 29, 2024, https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/subject/publications/stt2022/pdf/2023010LA8.pdf.
[ix] EdChoice, Public Opinion Tracker – Louisiana, March 5, 2024, https://edchoice.morningconsultintelligence.com/reports/louisiana.pdf.
