Louisiana Charter Schools affect Vermilion Parish School District

Vermilion Parish has no charter schools, but that does not mean charter schools are not affecting Vermilion Parish public schools.
Six Acadiana superintendents attended a newsmaker forum, sponsored by the Acadiana Press Club in Lafayette.
Vermilion Parish Superintendent Jerome Puyau sat with Acadia Parish Superintendent John Bourque, Iberia Parish Superintendent Dale Henderson, Jeff Davis Parish Superintendent Brian LeJeune, Lafayette Parish Superintendent Pat Cooper and St. Martin Parish Superintendent Lottie Beebe and answered questions about the school year.
Charter schools were one of the subjects discussed, and Puyau explained that charter schools in Lafayette Parish is affecting Vermilion Parish.
Puyau said early projections have 65 parish students enrolled in charter schools. Puyau said there are at least three students attending a charter school on the north side of Lafayette. Also, there are other parish students enrolled in a virtual (on-line) charter schools.
Puyau explained when a parish student enrolls in a charter school, the public school system loses money.
The state, through Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), provides each district with about $5,300 per student. The local district contributes an additional $3,100 from local tax dollars to help educate a student.
It cost an average of $8,400 a year to educate a student in the parish.
When a student decides to leave a public school and attend a charter school, the state money follows him or her. The state takes away its $5,300 of MFP funding and gives it to a charter school. The state also subtracts the projected $3,100 in local tax dollars by holding back MFP funding for $3,100 per student.
For every student attending charter schools, the state holds back around $8,400 in MFP funding per student.
Puyau does like the state punishing the local district by taking away its local property tax dollars to help pay for education outside of the district.
With 65 parish students attending charter schools, the school system is losing $217,000 in local tax dollars.
“We are not contesting giving MFP dollars to go to a charter school,” said Puyau. “If a student wants to go to a charter school, that is fine. The part I have a problem with is that our local tax dollars, dollars that were voted on by residents, are going out of district. That is a travesty.”