DeVos Pal, Eddie Rispone: School Vouchers Give Public Schools “Influence” to Not “Go Out of Business.” by Mercedes Schneider
Eddie Rispone is the former chair of the Louisiana Federation for Children (LFC), a state branch of the American Federation for Children (AFC), the school choice organization formerly chaired by US ed sec, Betsy DeVos, and also the former treasurer of the Louisiana Federation for Children Action Fund PAC.
Rispone is in the November 16, 2019, runoff for Louisiana governor against incumbent John Bel Edwards.
In his views on education, Rispone follows the lead of DeVos.
In this June 2016 video, LFC chair Rispone is pitching for Louisiana school vouchers.
One month later, in July 2016, I posted about Louisiana’s voucher program, in a post entitled, “About the Louisiana Voucher Program, Where Failure Really Is an Option.”
In closing, a few points:
In May 2019, Louisiana’s school voucher program was featured on New Orleans Public Radio for the failure that it is— and by this time, DeVos was trying to distance herself from that failure by terming Louisiana’s voucher program as “not well conceived.”
And from a May 2019 nola.com article featuring Rispone:
Of the $1 million he’s spent on political causes since 2015, records show $600,000 has gone to political action committees backing candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, who support charters and the state school voucher program.
Rispone said he supports “school choice” because he thinks it will lead to a better-educated workforce, which would benefit Louisiana’s business climate. He grew up in a working-class household and attributes his success in part to attending Catholic schools, an opportunity he worries is out of reach for many families today.
A recent investigation by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and WVUE Fox 8 concluded that students enrolled in private schools using the state voucher program, which Rispone has championed, often perform poorly on standardized tests. The private schools they attend are often considered “failing” by the state education department.
In Rispone’s mind, only traditional public schools can go out of business. Not vouchers.
Eddie Rispone: School choice ideologue.
Just like Betsy.
Rispone is in the November 16, 2019, runoff for Louisiana governor against incumbent John Bel Edwards.
In his views on education, Rispone follows the lead of DeVos.
In this June 2016 video, LFC chair Rispone is pitching for Louisiana school vouchers.
One month later, in July 2016, I posted about Louisiana’s voucher program, in a post entitled, “About the Louisiana Voucher Program, Where Failure Really Is an Option.”
In closing, a few points:
- The 7,807 voucher students who qualify based on income are not all new to the program. Only 1,420 are noted as new applicants for 2016-17.
- Only 588 students applying for 2016-17 vouchers attended a local-board-operated public school in 2015-16. That does not even average to 9 students per school district. (Louisiana has 69 local school districts.) However…
- …Louisiana vouchers are not popular statewide. New Orleans and Baton Rouge are the principal cities where students are using vouchers.
- Most Louisiana vouchers are being used at Catholic schools.
- Most voucher students are elementary school students, and the Louisiana voucher program appears to be dependent upon first-time kindergarteners for its survival.
In May 2019, Louisiana’s school voucher program was featured on New Orleans Public Radio for the failure that it is— and by this time, DeVos was trying to distance herself from that failure by terming Louisiana’s voucher program as “not well conceived.”
And from a May 2019 nola.com article featuring Rispone:
Of the $1 million he’s spent on political causes since 2015, records show $600,000 has gone to political action committees backing candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, who support charters and the state school voucher program.
Rispone said he supports “school choice” because he thinks it will lead to a better-educated workforce, which would benefit Louisiana’s business climate. He grew up in a working-class household and attributes his success in part to attending Catholic schools, an opportunity he worries is out of reach for many families today.
A recent investigation by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune and WVUE Fox 8 concluded that students enrolled in private schools using the state voucher program, which Rispone has championed, often perform poorly on standardized tests. The private schools they attend are often considered “failing” by the state education department.
In Rispone’s mind, only traditional public schools can go out of business. Not vouchers.
Eddie Rispone: School choice ideologue.
Just like Betsy.