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Governor Jeff Landry signed the LA GATOR Scholarship Program into law yesterday, which will provide vouchers for more parents to send their kids to better schools. Bill author Senator Rick Edmonds of Baton Rouge says GATOR will look similar to the current voucher program for low-income students and students in low-rated schools.
“What will happen is the [current] voucher program will be absorbed into the [GATOR] scholarship program, and that is already funded,” he explains.
The plan is to eventually expand GATOR to cover students of all incomes and schools. Similar programs in other states have ballooned financially as parents took vouchers and sent their kids to different schools whether they needed to or not. Edmonds says he and his team planned for this while creating GATOR.
“We’ve learned from their [the other state’s] mistakes [as to] how we can fund it and at the same time get the thing launched correctly,” he says. “So I think we’ve found the best of both worlds.”
In addition to tuition, the vouchers could also be used for tutoring, textbooks, dual enrollment courses, uniforms and transportation. Edmonds says he hopes GATOR, which will roll out in three phases, becomes a blueprint for how to do a state scholarship program right.
“I feel really good about it,” he says. “I think the legislature has a good handle on it and I think the governor does as well. We’re all working together.”
Phase one of GATOR is set to start for the 2025-26 school year
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