I Am Louisiana Course Choice, And I Enroll Without Parental Consent

There’s money to be made in education, and I am here to get mine.

I am a Louisiana Course Choice provider. Despite the initial, November 2012 state ruling of unconstitutionality regarding my receiving MFP funding for offering Course Choice, and despite the fact that Jindal and White have no other BESE-approved plan in place for paying me, it is full speed ahead and I am approved.

I have access to student data via John White’s shady “partnership” with data storage “nonprofits” such as InBloom, organized and funded by Murdoch and Gates.

Even though I am not supposed to have them, I do have access even to social security numbers.

And, as an “approved” provider, I am allowed to solicit students for enrollment in my courses. I can go into neighborhoods and sign students up on my computer. I can run ads on Craigslist for “sales reps” to sell courses. And I can offer enrollees a free computer as incentive to enroll.

You see, Louisiana Course Choice is a business venture. The bottom line is what matters.

And it gets better for me:

I can sign up children without school or even parental consent. And it is up to the LDOE to inform principals who is enrolled and for principals to contact me to unenroll students.

No one is monitoring me. I can enroll students for any course I like, even courses that don’t make sense, like elementary courses for high school students. I am solely responsible for reporting that the student “attended.” And on my word, I collect the money. I can do as I like for three years, without penalty. If students don’t perform well on standardized tests after “taking” my course, the penalty goes to the home school.

What money? you may ask.  After all, didn’t the Louisiana Supreme Court just declare that I cannot collect MFP money, that such is meant for the public schools?

White initially proposed a softer, looser 2013-14 MFP formula for legislative approval.  But now, Jindal and White have an opportunity to play with MFP again since the 2013-14 BESE-approved MFP must be reworked given the court’s ruling.  And he seems to end up with surplus money from underbidding contracts.

Besides all this, Jindal has promised to shave off some budget money to fund “choice.”  One way to do so is to remove voucher students from school enrollment and divert what would have been MFP to the general fund. Sure, I’m not a voucher program, but White and Jindal are very good at shady schemes.

Ask those in charge. I am still good to go.

If Jindal and White have their way, I will get paid. And I am in a better position than under-regulated charters, for I am virtually invisible, even more so that White’s network leaders.

So, what could stop me?

Parents contacting their children’s schools to go on record before the fact as saying they do not want their children enrolled in Course Choice. Written, dated, and signed correspondence on file with the school and copied to the Course Choice program at the LDOE.

Parents contacting their legislators regarding this mass fraud in the works.

Parents contacting their legislators saying that they do not want public school funding diverted to the general fund for the purpose of funneling money to Course Choice.

Yeah. Parental action could be my undoing.