BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana state officials are preparing contingency plans in the event that the state Supreme Court upholds a lower court’s decision that their expanded private school voucher program is unconstitutional.

State Superintendent John White proposed an alternative funding plan this week that would send state dollars to local school boards to distribute to schools attended by local voucher students – a move that would sidestep the pending legal challenge and result in more funding for public school districts, NOLA.com reports.

The current funding mechanism for Louisiana’s voucher program sends money directly from the state to the private voucher schools, and is the central issue in a lawsuit filed by the state’s teachers union and school boards association.

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A district judge recently reacted to that lawsuit by ruling that the voucher program is unconstitutional because it diverts public funds to private schools. The state appealed the decision and the case is pending in the Louisiana Supreme Court.

White’s proposal provides an alternative funding plan that would remedy the problem “by sending the money to public school systems that would then agree to fund vouchers as well as the state’s Course Choice program that lets students take courses outside of their districts,” NOLA.com reports.

White’s alternative funding method could also benefit local public schools. It costs about $3,400 less to send students to a private or parochial school than to educate them at their assigned government school, and local school districts and the state currently split the savings.

Under the alternative plan the state would allow local school districts to keep the entire $3,400 that’s left over, according to NOLA.com.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the state’s education establishment – those suing to maintain the public school monopoly – are interested in any kind of compromise, despite the obvious and substantial benefits to taxpayers and Louisiana students.

“Our opinion hasn’t changed,” Louisiana School Boards Association Executive Director Scott Richard told NOLA.com. “We feel very confident the Supreme Court will uphold (the lower court) ruling.”