A federal judge has ordered state Superintendent of Education John White to appear in federal court in New Orleans Oct. 30 to address claims from the Tangipahoa Parish School Board that the state's new voucher program inhibits the school board's efforts to settle a federal desegregation lawsuit. The Tangipahoa Parish School Board is claiming that the state's new voucher program "frustrates" the board's ability to comply with a decades-old federal desegregation suit by diverting public school money that would otherwise be used to fund federally mandated improvements in the district.
The Advocate reports that a federal judge, in response to the Tangipahoa board's motion filed Sept. 24, has ordered state Superintendent of Education John White to appear in federal court in New Orleans Oct. 30 to address the school board's claims:
The School Board argued that the state's diversion of Minimum Foundation Program funds from the school district to voucher program enrollees frustrates the district's ability to abide by orders in the desegregation case that require building new schools, improving existing facilities and maintaining magnet programs.
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