Public Schools in New Orleans

Background | School Operators

Hurricane Katrina brought with it an opportunity to reinvent public education in the city of New Orleans, and the education reform model that has emerged bears little resemblance to the former New Orleans public school system. This new innovative model - comprised of state-operated, local district-operated, and charter schools - is changing the paradigm for the delivery of public education in the United States.  Never has a failing urban public school system in the country experienced such a total destruction of resources and responded with such radical change.

Download the 2008 State of Public Education in New Orleans report

Public Schools Open During the 2007-08 School Year

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The emphasis on innovation and autonomy has seen the birth of a hybrid model of public education, with charter schools rubbing shoulders with district- and state-run schools.  Two years since Katrina, nearly half of the students have returned – and those who have are part of an entirely new system, characterized by autonomy, choice, and multiple school operators.  The once centralized, district-run school system is now fundamentally different: 80 public schools are run by 29 operators.  Fifty percent of the public schools are now charters, making New Orleans the district with the highest proportion of charter schools in the nation. 

Since the storm, the student population has decreased significantly.  With approximately 32,000 students enrolled in the current school year (2007-2008) , the public schools in New Orleans are at nearly half of their pre-Hurricane Katrina population.  Although students continue to return to New Orleans, the student return rate during the 2006-2007 school year (43 percent) was lower than in surrounding districts such as Jefferson, with an 80 percent return rate, and St. Charles, with a 90 percent return rate.  Students in non-public schools, who made up 30 percent of the pre-Hurricane Katrina student population, made up 44 percent of the student population during the 2006-2007 school year.

Several defining characteristics of the public school system remained largely the same during the 2007-2008 school year.  Student demographics have stayed generally constant: 95 percent of students attending public schools in New Orleans are non-Caucasians, and 83 percent of students are participating in free or reduced-price lunch programs—compared with 94 percent and 77 percent, respectfully, pre-Hurricane Katrina.