Remember your high school biology class? Then you may recall there are about 70 trillion unique genetic combinations possible for every single child. In other words: we’re all completely unique, particularly when it comes to how we learn and process information.
This principle should be top of mind as lawmakers consider expanded funding for the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise Scholarship (LA GATOR) Program. LA GATOR offers Education Savings Accounts (ESA) parents can use for private school tuition, homeschooling, and other personalized educational costs, including those associated with public schooling.
LA GATOR enables our state to meet the unique needs of each child. For many students, the traditional public school setting works well for students’ unique learning needs. For others, a private, charter, homeschool, or other innovative education setting would work better. But either way, operating as if any one-size-fits-all approach to education works for everyone ignores the many unique ways a child can show up in the classroom.
Parents want individualization back in education. We know this because more than 40,000 families have applied for LA GATOR. Unfortunately, current funding supports only about 6,000 students, leaving many stuck in classrooms that stifle their unique learning abilities and passions.
We see the consequences of failing to consider each child’s unique needs in a rise in absenteeism rates across the country. Chronic absenteeism, the number of students missing more than 10% of the school year, rose from 18% of students in Louisiana in 2019 to 25% of students in 2024. The goal should be for every child to be in a learning environment that makes them want to be in school and be engaged in their learning journeys.
Education Savings Accounts offer parents the chance to get their children excited about learning again by using dollars to send their kids to a school that works for their individual needs. If your child struggles in a classroom with a high student-teacher ratio, you should be able to search out options with a lower ratio. Louisiana has the fourth-highest student-to-teacher ratio in the country, so the ability to choose a smaller classroom could be a game changer.
If your child has physical or emotional challenges, they need the opportunity to find a teacher that can meet all those unique needs and challenges. If your child thrives in an experiential learning environment, or prefers a more disciplined atmosphere, the EAS program allows for finding the best option, because no child should have to shape themselves to fit a school.
Studies of statewide programs that offer families the means to find the right learning environment for their child have found these programs boost high school graduation, encourage college enrollment, and boost college graduation rates for students across the board, even those whose families did not participate in school choice programs.
And when college isn’t the right path, ESAs offer students opportunities to learn outside of a traditional classroom setting, finding career paths that fit their passion and talent.
Lawmakers have taken notice of this. That’s probably why more than half of U.S. states have school choice programs in place, and nearly 50% of American students now have access to ESAs, vouchers, or tax credits. It’s not a left or right issue, it’s an American one, with polls showing bipartisan support for ESAs and other choice programs.
Individualized education is good for communities and the economy too. These accounts generate taxpayer savings and, because they introduce competition into the system, they also strengthen private, public, and charter schools. Plus, the classroom is often where a child’s natural passions and aptitudes emerge. Forcing students into schools that ignore their unique needs could keep the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, or electricians from emerging.
To sustain an innovative, engaged workforce and build an education system that honors each child’s uniqueness, lawmakers must support all learning pathways. The LA GATOR is a great start for our state to embrace each student’s unique needs.
