Louisiana: Judge Acts on Voucher Program in Schools

A federal judge has given state and federal lawyers 60 days to come up with possible modifications to a longstanding court order in a 1970s civil rights case to make sure that the state’s private school voucher program does not lead to segregation of schools. The judge, Ivan L. R. Lemelle of Federal District Court in New Orleans, gave his order on Friday in a case involving Louisiana’s distribution of taxpayer-funded vouchers to some students attending private schools. The state contends that the vouchers have no effect on desegregation efforts and that no federal oversight by the Justice Department is needed. The Justice Department is seeking to review the state’s assignments of student vouchers to make sure they do not promote segregation in violation of an order from the 1971 case of Brumfield v. Dodd.

Louisiana: Judge Acts on Voucher Program in Schools