La. Officials Selective in Granting 9 More Charters for New Orleans

Louisiana officials were pretty picky this month in approving new charter schools to help accommodate the fast-growing student population in New Orleans, analysts say. They gave a conditional OK to just nine charters to open for the coming academic year, out of 17 formal applications for 28 schools.

All of the students returning to the hurricane-ravaged city have to find classrooms somewhere, of course. Without enough new charters to keep pace, therefore, the state is expected to directly operate still more schools in 2007-08, educating the lion’s share of additional students.

The state-operated Recovery School District already runs 20 schools, far more than state officials envisioned when Louisiana took over most of New Orleans’ public schools shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. The RSD also...