Louisiana

"The popular Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy will finally get to expand, after an initial denial and months of tweaked efforts to recruit more African-American and at-risk students. The Jefferson Parish School Board approved the move Wednesday. The charter school may enroll 90 more children for the 2015-16 academic year, adding seats in all grades except third, fourth and eighth. Starting in 2016-17, it may add high school grades."

"The Justice Department has challenged my state in court for having the temerity to start a scholarship program that frees low-income minority children from failing schools. In other words, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder would rip children out of their schools and handcuff them to the failing schools they previously attended."

"The Rapides Parish School District and public school districts throughout Louisiana have programs designed to help, and they do so every year. We are glad they are there, and we wish there were more help available. The need is great. In Rapides Parish alone, where the average income is higher than in many other rural parishes, more than 400 schoolchildren were homeless during the 2012-13 academic year."

"Since high school dropouts have few opportunities for good-paying jobs and often have to rely on publicly funded hospitals for health care, cutting the dropout rate by 50 percent could save the state as much as $119 million a year in Medicaid spending, a recent study shows."