lailluminator.com – Ashley Murray, Jacob Fischler, Jennifer Shutt, Shauneen Miranda – 2025-04-30 08:00:00
by Ashley Murray, Jacob Fischler, Jennifer Shutt and Shauneen Miranda, Louisiana Illuminator April 30, 2025
WASHINGTON — Tuesday marked the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s second term, a period filled almost daily with executive orders seeking to expand presidential power, court challenges to block those orders and economic anxiety that undermines his promised prosperity.
Trump has taken decisive actions that have polarized the electorate. He’s used obscure authorities to increase deportations, upended longstanding trade policy with record-high tariffs, made drastic cuts to the federal workforce and ordered the closure of the Education Department.
Those moves have garnered mixed results and led to legal challenges.
The approach to immigration enforcement has yielded lower numbers of unauthorized border crossings compared to last year. But the immigration crackdown has barreled the country toward a constitutional crisis through various clashes with the judiciary branch.
Those nearing retirement have watched their savings shrink as Trump’s blunt application of tariffs, which he promises will replace income taxes, roils markets. Administration officials have promised the short-term tariff pain will benefit the country in the long term.
And White House advisor and top campaign donor Elon Musk’s efforts at government efficiency have resulted in eliminations of wide swaths of government jobs. That includes about half of the Education Department workforce so far, though Trump has signed an executive order to eliminate the department.
The controversial moves appear unpopular, as Americans delivered record low approval ratings for a president so early in his term. Polls spearheaded by Fox News, NPR, Gallup and numerous others yield overall disapproval of Trump’s job performance.
Trump speaks to reporters after signing executive orders in the Oval Office on April 23, 2025. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon look on. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Deportation push tests legal boundaries
Immigration was Trump’s signature issue on the campaign trail and his first 100 days were marked by a crackdown carried out against people with a range of immigration statuses and at least three U.S. citizen children. The aggressive push has led to clashes with the judiciary branch.
A burst of Inauguration Day executive orders Trump signed upon his return to office included some hardline immigration policies he’d promised.
On day one, he declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border that enabled his deployment two days later of 1,500 troops to help border enforcement.
District courts blocked the birthright citizenship and refugee resettlement measures and an appeals court has upheld those interpretations. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in May on birthright citizenship.
Trump’s record on immigration is a clear example of his desire to expand executive power, said Ahilan Arulanantham, a co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law.
“It’s an attempt to expand the government’s powers far beyond anything that we have seen before in this realm,” he said.
Unprecedented authorities
The administration has taken a series of actions considered nearly unprecedented to conduct mass deportations.
Authorities never accused Khalil of committing a crime, but sought to revoke his green card under a Cold War-era provision that allows the secretary of State to remove lawful permanent residents if the secretary deems their presence has “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
Similar arrests followed at universities across the country.
In mid-March, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport two planeloads of people his administration said belonged to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
It was only the fourth time the law was invoked and the first outside of wartime. The first flights left U.S. soil en route to a mega-prison in El Salvador on Saturday, March 15, amid a hearing on the legality of using the law in peacetime.
Prison officers stand guard over a cell block at the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, on April 4, 2025 in El Salvador. (Photo by Alex Peña/Getty Images)
When a federal judge entered an oral order to turn the flights around, the administration refused, arguing the oral order was not valid. The administration also ignored a subsequent written order demanding the return of the flights, later arguing the flights were outside U.S. airspace at that time and impossible to order returned.
Administration officials mocked the court order on social media.
The Supreme Court on April 7 allowed for the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected gang members of Tren de Aragua. However, the justices unanimously agreed that those removed under the wartime law needed to have due process and have a hearing to challenge their removal.
Abrego Garcia
A third March 15 flight carried a man who was mistakenly deported in an episode that has gained a national spotlight.
Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador, had a final order of removal, but was granted deportation protections by an immigration judge because of the threat he would be harmed by gangs if he were returned to his home country. Despite the protective order, he was deported to the notorious Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT prison.
After his family sued over his deportation, the administration admitted he’d been removed through an “administrative error,” but stood by its decision.
The administration argued it had no power to compel the El Salvador government to release Abrego Garcia, despite a possibly illegal $6 million agreement with the country to detain the roughly 300 men.
A Maryland federal court and an appeals court ruled the administration must repatriate Abrego Garcia, whose wife and 5-year-old son are U.S. citizens, and the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Trump administration must “facilitate” his return, but stopped short of requiring it.
The administration has done little to indicate it is complying with that order, earning a rebuke from a conservative judge on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The Supreme Court’s decision does not … allow the government to do essentially nothing,” Circuit Court Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote. “‘Facilitate’ is an active verb. It requires that steps be taken as the Supreme Court has made perfectly clear.”
The administration’s relationship with the courts — delaying compliance with orders and showing a clear distaste for doing so — has led to the brink of a constitutional crisis, Arulanantham said.
“They’re playing footsy with disregarding court orders,” he said. “On the one hand, they’re not just complying. If they were complying, Abrego Garcia would be here now.”
But the administration has also not flagrantly refused to comply, Arulanantham added. “They’re sort of testing the bounds.”
Tariffs prompted market drop
Trump’s first 100 days spiraled into economic uncertainty as he ramped up tariffs on allies and trading partners. In early April, the president declared foreign trade a national emergency and shocked economies around the world with costly import taxes.
Following a week of market upheaval, Trump paused for 90 days what he had billed as “reciprocal” tariffs and left a universal 10% levy on nearly all countries, except China, which received a bruising 125%.
Some products, including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber and copper, remain exempt for now, though the administration is eyeing the possibilities of tariffs on those goods.
A billboard in Miramar, Florida, displays an anti-tariff message on March 28, 2025. The Canadian government has placed the anti-tariff billboards in numerous American cities in what they have described as an “educational campaign” to inform Americans of the economic impacts of tariffs. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The administration now contends it will strike trade deals with some 90 foreign governments over the pause, set to expire in July.
Meanwhile, an all-out trade war rages with China after Trump hiked tariffs on the world’s no. 2 economy even further to 145%. China responded with 125% tariffs on U.S. goods. The two economies share a massive trading relationship, both in the top three for each other’s imports and exports.
‘Chaotic’ strategy
Inu Manak, fellow for trade policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, summed up Trump’s first 100 days as “chaotic.”
“We haven’t seen anything like this in our U.S. history in terms of how trade policy is being handled. It’s very ad hoc,” Manak said.
“U.S. businesses can’t figure out what to do. And even for the large companies, it’s hard for them to know some of the long-term trajectories of where this was going to go,” Manak said.
Shortly after his second term began, Trump declared a national emergency over illicit fentanyl entering the U.S. — an unprecedented move to trigger import taxes — and began escalating tariffs on Chinese goods, as well as up to 25% on certain products crossing the borders from Canada and Mexico.
Trump hiked existing tariffs on steel and aluminum in mid-March under trade provisions meant to protect domestic production and national security, followed by 25% levies on foreign cars and auto parts — though Trump signed two executive orders Tuesday to grant some tariff relief to carmakers.
The import taxes have alarmed investors, small businesses and American consumers following the 2024 presidential campaign when Trump made lowering prices a major tenet of his platform.
The latest University of Michigan survey of consumers — a staple indicator for economists — reported consumer outlook on personal finances and business conditions took a nosedive in April. Expectations dropped 32% since January, the largest three-month percentage decline since the 1990 recession, according to the analysis.
Manak said Trump’s tariffs are “really at odds with” with the administration’s objectives of helping U.S. manufacturers and cutting costs for Americans.
“The U.S. now has the highest tariff rates in the world,” she said. “That’s going to hurt both consuming industries that import products to make things, and then consumers as well. We’re starting to see notifications coming out on layoffs, and some small businesses considering closing up shop already. And the tariffs haven’t been in place for that long.”
Rhett Buttle, of Small Business for America’s Future, said the policies are “causing real damage in terms of not just planning, but in terms of day-to-day operations.”
Buttle, a senior advisor for the advocacy group that claims 85,000 small business members, said even if Trump begins to strike deals with other countries, entrepreneurs will likely be on edge for months to come.
“It’s that uncertainty that makes business owners not want to hire or not want to grow,” Buttle said. “So it’s like, ‘Okay, we got through this mess, but why would I hire a person if I don’t know if I’m gonna wake up in two weeks and there’s gonna be another announcement?’”
Support dropping
Trillions were erased from the U.S. stock market after “Liberation Day” — the White House’s term for the start of its global tariff policy. The S&P 500 index, which tracks the performance of the 500 largest U.S. companies, is overall down 8.5% since Trump’s inauguration, according to The Wall Street Journal’s analysis.
Numerous recent polls showed flagging support for Trump’s economic policies.
In a poll released Monday, Gallup found 89% of Americans believe tariffs will result in increasing prices. And a majority of Americans are concerned about an economic recession and increasing costs of groceries and other goods, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey between April 17 and April 22.
The Pew Research Center similarly found a growing gloomy outlook among U.S. adults from April 7 to April 13. Results showed a majority of Americans — 59% across race, age and income levels — disapproved of Trump’s approach to tariffs. But when broken down by party, the survey showed a majority of Democrats disapprove while the majority of Republicans approve of the tariff policy.
American households are poised to lose up to $2,600 annually if tariffs remain in place and U.S. fiscal policy doesn’t change, according to the Yale Budget Lab. Analyses show low-income households will be disproportionately affected.
“If these tariffs stay in place, some folks are going to benefit, but a lot of people are going to get hurt,” Manak said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Government spending
Elon Musk, accompanied by his son X Musk and Trump, speaks during an executive order signing in the Oval Office on February 11, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Trump began his second term with a flurry of action on government spending, challenging the balance of power between the president and Congress.
Efforts to unilaterally cancel funding already approved by lawmakers, who hold the authority to spend federal dollars under the Constitution, led to confusion and frustration from both Democrats and Republicans, especially after the U.S. DOGE Service froze allocations on programs that have long elicited bipartisan support.
Many of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back appropriations are subject to injunctions from federal courts, blocking the cuts from moving forward while the lawsuits advance through the judicial system.
Kevin Kosar, senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said Trump’s actions on spending so far have sought to expand the bounds of presidential authority.
“We’ve never seen a president in modern times who’s been this aggressive in trying to seize control of the power of the purse,” he said. “To just say, ‘I’m not going to fund this agency, like USAID, despite money being appropriated for it. And we’re going to walk over and take their plaque off their wall and lock their doors.’ This is new.”
Many of Trump’s actions so far indicate to Kosar that the administration expects a change to the balance of power following next year’s midterm elections, when the president’s party historically loses control of at least one chamber of Congress.
“It feels to me that the first 100 days are in large part predicated on an assumption that they may only have two years of unified Republican control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the presidency,” he said. “We know the margins in the House are quite narrow, and the heavy use of executive actions and the simple defunding of various government contracts and agencies all through executive action, just tell me that the administration feels like they have to get everything done as fast as they possibly can, because the time is short.”
Kosar said he’s watching to see if Trump works with Republicans in Congress, while they still have unified control, to codify his executive orders into law — something he didn’t do with many of the unilateral actions he took during his first term.
“He just did executive actions, which, of course, (President Joe) Biden just undid,” he said. “And I’m just wondering: Are we going to see this movie all over again? Or is he going to actually partner with Congress on these various policy matters and pass statutes so that they stick?”
Zachary Peskowitz, associate professor of political science at Emory University, said Trump has been much more “assertive” during the last 100 days than during the first few months of 2017.
DOGE ‘winding down’
U.S. DOGE Service and Musk hit the ground running, though their actions have fallen short of the goals he set, and appear to be sunsetting with the billionaire turning his attention back toward his businesses.
“I think the big bang is winding down. They did a lot of things early on. It’s not clear how many of them are going to stick, what the consequences are,” Peskowitz said. “And I think, big picture, in terms of federal spending, the amounts of money that may have been saved or not are pretty small.”
Democrats in Congress released a tracker Tuesday listing which accounts the Trump administration has frozen or canceled to the tune of more than $430 billion.
But Trump has just gotten started.
The administration plans to submit its first budget request to Congress in the coming days, a step that’s typically taken in early February, though it happens a couple months behind schedule during a president’s first year.
That massive tax-and-spending proposal will begin the classic tug-of-war between Congress, which will draft the dozen annual appropriations bills, and Trump, who has shown a willingness to act unilaterally when he doesn’t get his way.
Trump and lawmakers must agree to some sort of government funding bill before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, otherwise a partial government shutdown would begin. And unlike the reconciliation package that Republicans can enact all on their own, funding bills require some Democratic support to move past the Senate’s 60-vote cloture threshold.
Trump stands with McMahon after signing an executive order to reduce the size and scope of the Education Department during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Eliminating the Education Department
Researchers and advocates predicted even more changes to the federal role in education, underscoring anti-diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and a continued ideological battle with higher education that have marked Trump’s approach to education policy in his first 100 days.
In a torrent of education-related decisions, Trump and his administration have tried to dismantle the Education Department via an executive order, slashed more than 1,300 employees at the department, threatened to revoke funds for schools that use DEI practices and cracked down on “woke” higher education.
The Trump administration has taken drastic steps to revoke federal funding for a number of elite universities in an attempt to make the institutions align more with them ideologically.
Rachel Perera, a governance studies fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, cited “brazen lawlessness” when reflecting on Trump’s approach to higher education in his second term.
“The ways that they’re trying to withhold funding from universities are very clearly in violation of federal law and the processes mandated by civil rights law in terms of ensuring that institutions are offered due process in assessing whether violations have taken place,” Perera said. “There’s not even a pretense of pretending to investigate some of these institutions before taking really dramatic action.”
Whether the administration’s approach continues or not depends on court action, she added.
“I think what the next three years might look like is really going to depend on how some of these lawsuits play out,” Perera said, referencing some of the major legal battles involving the Trump administration.
Wil Del Pilar, senior vice president at the nonprofit policy and advocacy group EdTrust, said “much of what this administration has done has been overreach.” He pointed to the Education Department’s letter threatening to yank federal funds for schools that use race-conscious practices across aspects of student life as one example.
Del Pilar, who was previously deputy secretary of postsecondary and higher education for the state of Pennsylvania, said the administration is “going to take any opportunity to grab at power that advances their ideology.”
Meanwhile, Perera said the consequences of the department implementing a reduction in force plan in March “have yet to be felt.”
“I think we will start to see really the material consequences of the reduced staffing capacity in the coming years, in terms of how programs are administered, in terms of how funding is moving out the building, in terms of auditing, making sure funding is going to the right groups of students that Congress intended for the money to go to, whether big data collection efforts that are congressionally mandated are being carried out in timely and effective ways,” she said.
“All of that remains to be seen.”
Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.
Last updated 8:21 a.m., Apr. 30, 2025
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This content presents a critical analysis of President Donald Trump’s second term actions, highlighting controversies, legal challenges, and negative consequences, particularly in immigration, tariffs, education, and government spending. The language is detailed and factual but frames Trump’s policies as aggressive and polarizing, frequently emphasizing legal disputes and public disapproval. While it references viewpoints from conservative and centrist sources, the overall tone leans toward skepticism of the administration, which is more characteristic of a center-left perspective. The piece is not overtly partisan but tends to underscore policy risks and opposition more than support, indicating a moderate critical stance typically aligned with center-left media.
SUMMARY: A gunman opened fire through windows at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis during a Wednesday morning Mass, killing two children, ages 8 and 10, and injuring 17 others, including 14 children and three elderly adults. The shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman, armed with a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police described the attack as deliberate and incomprehensibly cruel, targeting innocent worshippers. Authorities are investigating a manifesto Westman posted online. The FBI is treating the incident as domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics. Community members and leaders expressed profound grief and solidarity.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Nolan Mckendry | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-08-27 08:01:00
The Louisiana Fortify Homes Program, launched in 2023, aims to strengthen homes against hurricane-force winds by providing up to $10,000 grants for roof upgrades to national standards. Since Hurricane Katrina’s devastating 2005 impact, Louisiana invested over $14 billion in levees and pump stations, reducing flood risks but still facing wind damage threats. Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple emphasizes that resilient homes help keep communities intact, lower insurance costs, and speed recovery after storms. The program has awarded over 3,700 grants, with more homeowners fortifying independently. The next registration opens Sept. 2, offering 500 grants to eligible coastal residents, streamlining the application process for repeat entrants.
(The Center Square) − As New Orleans has rebuilt and rebounded, Hurricane Katrina’s impact has informed much of the policy and initiatives throughout the state.
The Louisiana Fortify Homes Program, Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple told The Center Square, focuses not just on flood protection but on stronger homes and communities.
“The city, the state, and the federal government spent over $14 billion to fortify levees and build additional pump stations,” Temple said. “But we’re still going to have hurricanes. Our properties are still going to be subject to hurricane-force winds. That’s why the focus now is on resilient housing stock.”
The Crescent City was braced for a Category 5 hurricane in the gulf 20 years ago this week. It arrived that Aug. 29, Category 3 at landfall, tearing through levees, homes and lives. It remains among the most deadly and costly of all time from the Atlantic basin.
Temple said the state’s investments in levees and pump stations after Katrina reduced the risk of another catastrophic flooding event. But, he warned, Louisiana remains highly vulnerable to hurricane-force winds that can tear apart homes and destabilize entire communities.
The Louisiana Fortify Homes Program provides grants of up to $10,000 for homeowners to upgrade roofs to nationally recognized standards able to withstand stronger winds. Since launching in 2023, the program has awarded more than 3,700 grants, with thousands more homeowners fortifying their roofs without state help.
Temple said the program’s impact goes beyond lowering individual insurance costs. Strengthening homes, he said, helps keep communities intact in the wake of major storms.
“When people’s homes are damaged, the longer it takes to repair and rebuild, the less likely they are to move back,” he said. “More resilient homes mean people are more likely to return, insurance remains affordable, and entire communities recover faster. That’s a part of resilience that hasn’t been talked about enough.”
The program’s next registration round opens Sept. 2, with 500 grants available. Homeowners in Louisiana’s coastal zone, Lake Charles, Sulphur and Westlake are eligible to apply. Those who registered in the September 2024 or February lotteries will be automatically reentered into the new round.
Temple said his office is working to make the process smoother for applicants.
“The last time, we had over 10,000 people sign up,” he said. “We’ve tried to make sure people don’t have to resubmit every single time. Once you put your name in the hat, it should stay there until you’re selected.”
The program’s momentum is part of what Temple calls a shift toward long-term resiliency in Louisiana.
“We built the levees,” he said. “We built the pump stations. Now we’re focused on building resilient properties so insurers are willing to stay in coastal Louisiana – and so people can afford to live here.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article primarily reports on a state government program and the statements of Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple regarding Louisiana’s efforts to bolster housing resilience against hurricanes. The tone is factual and explanatory, focusing on the details and benefits of the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program without promoting a particular political ideology. It refrains from partisan commentary or language that would suggest an ideological agenda, making it a straightforward report on policy initiatives and their practical impacts. This adherence to neutral, balanced reporting indicates a centrist stance without clear political bias.
Hurricane Katrina triggered New Orleans’ shift to an all-charter public school system, transforming a failing district into one with no failing schools and improved test scores and graduation rates. Today, 69 of 70 schools operate as independent charters under a district umbrella. Despite gains, challenges persist: declining enrollment, potential school closures, racial and economic disparities, and a reduced percentage of Black educators. Financial strains, including a $50 million deficit and competition from neighboring districts with higher teacher pay, threaten stability. Leaders emphasize the need to preserve cultural responsiveness and community ties while addressing funding, staffing, and equity issues in this ongoing education experiment.
Hurricane Katrina prompted the wholesale move of New Orleans’ public schools to an all-charter system, though seeds for the dramatic overhaul were sown at least two years before the 2005 catastrophe.
Before the storm, 60% of New Orleans schools earned a “F” grade on their state school performance scores. Today, there are no failing schools in the city. System and school leaders also point to improvements in standardized test results and graduation rates as validation for their autonomy from a traditional, centralized school district.
All but one of the 70 schools in New Orleans today are operated under charters independent of the local school board. They include 17 single-school charters and 28 organizations with multiple campuses. Though charter operators run their individual schools, there is still an umbrella New Orleans Public Schools district office and a school board that reviews charter applications and renewals.
As what’s been called the nation’s biggest experiment in public education prepares to enter its third decade, local school leaders are bracing for still more changes. For example, declining enrollment numbers, which is not unique to New Orleans, will likely lead to campus closures.
For many, it brings to mind the difficult post-Katrina decisions to shutter certain schools, mostly in neighborhoods where the population was slow to recover. Critics have said the charter movement exacerbated racial and economic gaps that existed before the storm, and new research lends credence to their claims. They fear the next round of school closures will be more of the same.
Another potential loss: more Black educators, who made up 71% of the system workforce in a city that was two-thirds Black before Katrina. Their numbers have rebounded to 52%, from a low of 42% since the storm, but gaps remain in the institutional culture. It’s that missing element that provided schools with strong neighborhood ties, even as they struggled with performance, said Adrinda Kelly, founder and leader of the advocacy group Black Education for New Orleans.
A graduate of McDonogh 35 High School, she’s among stakeholders who say the cultural factor is more difficult, and more important, to replace than buildings or employees.
“When we talk about trying to get closer to some of the things that we had going that were right pre-Katrina, we’re not just talking about Black bodies in front of Black children. That’s a part of it,” Kelly said. “What we’re talking about more is an ethos of education, where community and cultural responsiveness are sort of pillars of how we do education.”
How we got here
The Orleans Parish School Board served more than 65,000 students at 124 campuses for the school year that started weeks before Hurricane Katrina’s impact. At the time, a change in school governance was in its nascent stages.
Five campuses were already part of the Recovery School District, which the Louisiana Legislature had created two years earlier to take over schools that consistently failed state progress assessments.
Charter schools in New Orleans also predated Katrina, with two operating under the state school board, one under the local school board and more in the works.
Leslie Jacobs, then a member of the state Board of Secondary and Elementary Education, was the chief proponent of the Recovery School District. She had previously served on the Orleans Parish School Board, when system leaders were ensnared by corruption, crumbling infrastructure and declining performance.
“People had written off New Orleans public schools. No one believed New Orleans public schools could do anything,” Jacobs said Saturday at an Education Research Alliance of New Orleans symposium to mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
After Katrina, the entire system was placed under the Recovery School District as officials tried to determine which locations should reopen. Nearly 50 schools were deemed significantly or completely destroyed, and it would be several months before displaced families could begin their return and recovery. Did schools need to wait on neighborhoods – or vice versa?
People escape flooding in the Lower 9th Ward and wait to be rescued from the rooftop of the Martin Luther King Jr. School and Library, one of the only two-story buildings in the area, during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina Aug. 30, 2005 in New Orleans. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The first schools to reopen welcomed students back in January 2006, and the system ended the year with an enrollment of 12,000. The count increased to roughly 25,000 for the 2006-07 school year, and total enrollment peaked above 51,000 in October 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a decline that’s stretched over the past four years. As of October 2024, there were 47,667 students enrolled in 70 schools.
The declining birth rate is one factor that’s produced falling enrollments nationally. Since the pandemic, more families have also opted for homeschooling and other nontraditional teaching options.
The drop is more pronounced in New Orleans’ high schools. As of February, nine of the city’s 23 stand-alone high schools (no K-8 grades) had student bodies below 500 last school year. By comparison, three high schools – Warren Easton, Edna Karr and Ben Franklin – had more than 1,000 students.
The Cowen Institute, created in 2007 to track educational changes after Hurricane Katrina, has followed the trend. In the 2025 edition of its report on “The State of Public Education in New Orleans,” it notes the amount of money the state provides per public school student has remained largely unchanged over the past 15 years.
State figures show the Minimum Foundation Program formula came to $3,855 per student for the 2010-11 school year. For 2024-25, the amount was $4,105 – a 3.3% increase that falls well short of the 2.65% average annual increase in inflation over the same period.
Each open seat in a New Orleans public school represents a loss of roughly $10,000, according to the Cowen Institute.
“The financial implications of already under-enrolled high schools experiencing additional enrollment declines in the future pose challenges for school leaders and the district, necessitating difficult decisions regarding resource allocation and potential school closures,” its report reads.
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Gaps persist
The state’s measuring stick for public school performance is the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, better known as the LEAP test, which is administered to all third- through 12th-grade students. Scores from fourth- and eight-graders are used to assess schoolwide performance.
Last year, 54% of New Orleans Public School fourth-graders and 65% of eighth-graders achieved Basic or Above on the English portion of the LEAP test, up from pre-Katrina rates 44% and 26%, respectively. Math scores were also higher, with 49% of fourth-graders and 42% of eighth-graders reaching Basic or Above in 2024, an increase from 41% and 30% in 2004, respectively.
However, long-term disparities in student performance based on race, household income and special education status persist. White and Asian scored far higher than Black, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, special education and English language learner students. These disparities have increased over the past three years, according to the Cowen Institute’s analysis.
Tiffany Delcour, chief operating officer for New Schools for New Orleans, noted at last weekend’s symposium that lagging performance from English language learners is common throughout the state. The nonprofit she works for was created after Katrina to shepherd resources directed to improving public education in the city.
“As that is the [fastest] growing population we have in New Orleans – our multilanguage learners – we really have to figure out how to innovate for those students,” Delcour said.
The Cowen Institute also noted racially “stratified” student bodies at the eight New Orleans selective admissions public schools that require students to pass qualifying tests to enroll.
White students made up 42% of those accepted to these schools, although they make up just 10% of total enrollment systemwide. Black students, who accounted for 35% enrollment at selective schools, comprise 71% of the citywide student body.
Pros and cons of autonomy
Lake Forest Charter School is one of those selective admissions schools and was the first to open in New Orleans East after Hurricane Katrina. Mardele Early, its founding CEO, said she had started having conversations with parents about seeking a charter for her Montessori-curriculum elementary before the August 2005 hurricane.
“Our reason was we wanted to have more of an autonomy to build – and continue to build – what we knew would be a great school for students,” Early said. “We wanted to have more faith in the selection of our materials and how we were going to spend our funding.”
Students attend dance class at the Encore Academy charter school on May 13, 2015, in New Orleans. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
With school closures and consolidation on the near horizon, New Orleans school leaders have started to explore whether their autonomy is an expense they can continue to afford.
Each individual charter operation requires a transportation contract for school buses, a food service program for student meals and a health care provider for its employees – all expenses a central office covers in a traditional school district. Charter holders with multiple campuses enjoy some economies of scale, but single-school operators have to shoulder the cost on their own.
For some schools, though, these spending decisions are about more than just keeping their books balanced.
Kate Mehock, founder and CEO of Crescent City School, said at Saturday’s symposium that she chose to stop contracting with a transportation provider and took its bus service in-house last year. Her charter operation includes five schools and an alternative education program. When her independent school board asked whether its transportation team was having an impact, she said she began tracking attendance and four that tardiness rates fell by half.
“What does that mean? It means kids aren’t late to first period. It means they eat breakfast,” Mehock said. “They come to school, they’re ready to go, right? So a small thing like that really matters.”
Future funding fears
Although New Orleans’ charter schools are independently run, the local tax revenue that supports them comes through the Orleans Parish School Board. An ongoing dispute between the board and Mayor LaToya Cantrell involves tens of millions of dollars in school tax revenue the city has retained. The mayor insists those proceeds are meant to cover the city’s cost for collecting school taxes.
The school board has sued the Cantrell administration, and a judge issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday that suspends the city’s tax collection fee.
The money in question would help the school system overcome a $50 million deficit from last year that was the result of an error in tax revenue projections. The mistake led to the quick exit of Superintendent Avis Williams and forced the school board to dip into its savings to cover part of the shortfall.
These financial difficulties make it difficult to attract and retain teachers, current Superintendent Fateama Fulmore said. A 2023 study from The New Teacher Project found that 25% of New Orleans teachers left their jobs in each of the previous three years, with the pandemic forcing many to exit the field entirely.
There’s also the competition factor.
New Orleans school leaders watched nervously last December as Jefferson Parish voters were asked to increase their property taxes to support teacher pay raises. The proposition failed by a margin of 319 votes.
The average annual compensation for a certified teacher in New Orleans is just under $44,000, according to multiple third-party online salary databases. An official figure is difficult to obtain, given the number and independent nature of charter operations, but anecdotal evidence places New Orleans teacher pay behind salaries in Jefferson.
Had the property tax been approved, each Jefferson Parish teacher would have seen their annual salary increased $8,300, dramatically increasing the district’s edge over New Orleans.
As the years have passed since Hurricane Katrina, the appeal of working in an experimental school system has lost its luster for some educators, especially as neighboring systems have increased teacher pay. Fulmore said compensation, declining enrollment and underfunding are the three main obstacles the New Orleans school faces in the near term.
“I don’t believe these are insurmountable challenges we’re facing, but there are Heculean efforts that we’re going to have to make to overcome them,” the superintendent said.
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Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
This content presents a generally balanced view of the New Orleans public school system’s transformation post-Hurricane Katrina, highlighting both successes and ongoing challenges. It acknowledges improvements in school performance and autonomy through charter schools, while also addressing criticisms related to racial and economic disparities, teacher retention, and funding issues. The focus on social equity, community impact, and systemic challenges aligns with a center-left perspective that supports reform and accountability in public education, while advocating for attention to racial and economic justice concerns.
