With a needless requirement teed up for removal, parents in Louisiana will gain greater say in the future of their children’s school that particularly will assist some in Monroe.
HB 83 by Republican state Rep. Mike Echols would excise from statute a stricture mandating double majorities for parents and school staff to request that a school serving their attendance zone be converted into a Type 2 charter school. That designation means administration would occur by a charter association aligned with the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, rather than with the local school district or a Type 3 school, which requires approval by the local school board or, failing that, BESE, then approved by the double majority if the local authority wants that (by administrative code), which the bill effectively also would remove. (A Type 4 conversion, or a local board running a school under a charter with BESE, also has this requirement.)
A double majority is where not only a majority of those voting must approve of something but also a majority of the relevant electorate must vote in the election. These are not uncommon in countries around the world but almost always apply to large jurisdictions and questions, such as amending constitutions or having citizens pass a law. The concept sporadically exists in America, dealing only with forced annexations into different governments.
Its use in statute is inappropriate in the instance of conversion into a charter school. Forcibly moving property from one government to another far more intrusively has government interfering in people’s lives than in determining how a school is governed. It also is biased against approval, as those not voting become negative votes in an election not run officially by government which discourages turnout through lack of regular channels to communicate information about a ballot. A fairer system needs approval of just a majority of those able to know of the election and have the willingness, even minimal, to inform themselves and to make an effort to vote.
That additional majority has turned out as a critical difference in the efforts of parents of a school in Echols’ district, Neville High School, to reach charter status. Last year, they pursued first the Type 3 option, complaining that Neville was getting shortchanged from the Monroe City School District in money spent on the school. But the district’s board turned them down, calling the application flawed.
Next, a Type 2 option was pursued. A vote was held and parental and staff majorities easily were attained, but not enough families voted. Then the group lobbied again for a Type 3 conversion, with Echols having said he would file a bill to whittle the double majority to single. While a couple of MCSB members expressed sympathy and noted this type would allow for Board oversight and counting of Neville’s academic performance within the district which, along with Wossman High School, is the best, the Board again turned down the application.
Should the bill pass, it would be in time for the organization to complete the process in time for the 2028 academic year in needing just the single majority that almost assuredly would result in success for the organizers as a Type 2. However, the MCSB could relent in the face of that possibility and usher in the new arrangement as a Type 3 in order to keep Neville in the fold. The same dynamic could occur for other groups across the state frustrated by the double majority requirement.
Let that dam burst, as the double majority standard serves no legitimate purpose but adds a useless impediment surreptitiously approved by and used by opponents of school choice and accountability. Legislators need to jettison it to empower families and to improve school performance.
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