Adam Wittenberg | April 6, 2025
(The Lion) — As Louisiana continues its push to improve education through school choice, it has introduced a new accountability tool granting an inside look at schools and how education dollars are spent.
The Louisiana School Transparency Project, announced Wednesday, offers parents a comprehensive look at public and charter school budgets, as well as academic performance and other factors to help them decide where to send their kids.
“How can you choose a school if you know nothing about it?” State Treasurer John Fleming asked at an event announcing the portal, which went live Monday and is hosted on the Treasury Department’s website.
“And this, as I understand it, is the most comprehensive transparency website for K through 12 schools in the country, which means that you’ll be able to see everything you’d want to know in terms of its efficiency, in terms of payroll, administrative costs, performance, contracts, all of those things so that it can, it helps you make a better choice for school for your child.”
The portal announcement comes as the state is vetting its first applications for LA GATOR, its new school choice program that kicks off this fall. GATOR replaces a low-income program that produced lackluster results, including some students whose scores went down after transferring to private school.
GATOR places fewer restrictions on participating schools, meaning it will attract better institutions, and provides more flexibility for parents. The education savings account program follows best practices from successful states such as Florida, Arizona and Arkansas. Funds can be used for private, homeschool or hybrid schools, as well as tutoring and other education-related expenses.
The Pelican State has shown recent gains in its public-school scores, with reading and math results improving during a time when much of the country experienced learning loss from COVID-19. State Education Secretary Cade Brumley says the state still has a ways to go to get test scores where it wants them but is pleased by the progress.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and the Republican-led Legislature are pursuing expanded educational freedom, giving more options to parents as they seek to improve public schools while helping those who desire private education or to homeschool.
“Your money deserves to follow your child,” Landry has said. “Sometimes we forget that tax dollars are not the government’s money.”
The transparency project was inaugurated by a 2023 bill proposed by state Sen. Rick Edmonds, KTAL reports.
The project also tracks vendor contracts, allowing parents to see how money is being spent and look for fraud, including consulting and social services contracts.
School districts around the country spent millions on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultants under the Biden administration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning federal funds from schools and states that practice DEI. Some states are complying while others are changing terms in an effort to circumvent the rules.
Fleming said when cost savings are found or fraud exposed, the money could be used to improve teacher pay.
“What this really does is not only improve the quality of education our kids are getting but it gives us opportunity to pay teachers more,” he said. “So we can, again, retain good teachers. We don’t want to lose good teachers.”
Fleming said the new portal is easy to use and doesn’t require someone to be “a nerd or a computer geek” to navigate.
The portal mirrors efforts by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to root out waste and fraud in federal spending. In just three months of poring over government contracts and spending, the department claims to have eliminated more than $130 billion in waste.
This article was made available to EdNews Virginia via The Lion, a publication of the Herzog Foundation.