Back To School A Scary Time For Louisiana Parents

After only a 9-week break, students in Bossier Parish will be back in school tomorrow, almost two full weeks before those in Caddo Parish.  Talk about the Dog Days of Summer.  The good news for kids in Bossier Parish is that they will get a full week off in October for Fall break instead of the usual two days.

As a parent, I always had mixed feelings when my kids went back to school in the Fall. Summers were a lot less hectic time for our family.  We weren't driving the kids all over creation for this school function and that.  We were able to go on vacation and spend real, quality time with them.  But when they went back to school in August, we were comforted in knowing that they were getting a quality education because we happened to live in areas with good public schools--Austin, Texas, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I can't imagine what parents in Louisiana are thinking as their children return to school this year. In most parts of the state they must be feeling tremendous anxiety.  The personal-finance site WalletHub just completed a study of education in America which determined that Louisiana has the worst school systems in the country.

Here is how Louisiana public schools ranked in specific areas of the study:

• 48th in Math Test Scores
• 48th in Reading Test Scores
• 32nd in Pupil-Teacher Ratio
• 39th in Median ACT Score
• 43rd in percent of Threatened/Injured High School Students

When you break the study down by cities, Shreveport/Bossier City ranks 128th out of the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.  But it could be worse--Lafayette is ranked 142nd.