Taking It On The Chin Again In NOLA

Just when you think it can't get any worse for New Orleans' public schools, it does:

New Orleans area school systems will lose more than 200 (m) million dollars in state funding under a revamped financing formula passed by the Legislature this month.

The cuts were prompted largely by drastic swings in enrollment and a statewide loss of more than 70-thousand students.

New Orleans public schools, formerly the state's largest district, will take the biggest hit, dropping from 219 (m) million dollars in state funding in 2004-2005 to about 39-point-four (m) million dollars for the fiscal year that starts Saturday.

Thousands of New Orleans students can't return until the schools re-open.

And the schools can't re-open until the students return.

It's a vicious circle. --------------------------See our latest education-related entries right here.