Nearly twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Among other sweeping institutional changes, the unprecedented school reforms enacted in the immediate aftermath have left long-lasting effects on the city’s K–12 public education system. But are New Orleans schools still operating in the way that reformers intended?
Before Katrina, New Orleans’s education system ranked low in several areas, including academic achievement at both the high school and college levels. Although the hurricane caused great damage to the city, it also created an opportunity to reform its education system. Post-Katrina reformers relied heavily on a previously enacted policy: the 2003 Recovery School District Act (RSD), which aimed to reform failing traditional public schools by converting them into high-performing charter schools. In 2005, Katrina seemed to give New Orleans a clean slate to enact the controversial law. The state assumed control of nearly all public schools in the city and turned most of them into charters, using additional resources from nonprofit organizations in an effort to boost academic achievement. Although many educators welcomed the increased financial support for facilities affected by the hurricane, the firing of teachers without proper evaluation created mistrust, especially amongst Black educators.
The Education Research Alliance (ERA) at Tulane University used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to assess the academic impact of post-Katrina education reforms in New Orleans. They found that the reforms improved outcomes. State test scores rose by 11–16 percentiles, graduation rates by 3–9 percentage points, college entry by 8–15 percentage points, and college completion by 3–5 percentage points. School spending increased by 13 percent due to government and philanthropic support, but instructional spending dropped by 10 percent per student. Much of the new funding went to administrative costs under the decentralized charter model, while lower teacher salaries also contributed to reduced classroom spending.
Despite positive impacts, the report highlights that certain reforms also led to negative consequences, including mismanagement of funds, lower teacher quality, and reduced access to schools for low income students. An ERA survey conducted between 2018 and 2019 reported that students experienced lower teaching quality in New Orleans compared to students in other areas that had undergone similar reforms. After Katrina, teachers had less experience and fewer advanced credentials, with Black teachers experiencing less compensation and a drastic decrease in representation (from 71 percent to just under half by 2014). Many educators felt disrespected and neglected, especially during the initial implementation when many were abruptly fired or excluded from decision-making.
Post-Katrina reforms caused some additional problems for students and families. Since attendance zones were removed, many students had to travel further to get to school, which made transportation more expensive for the NOLA school district. Fewer early childhood programs were offered because charter schools were not required to fund pre-K. Arts education also received less support, with fewer students taking part in music, art, and similar classes.
Taken together, the findings suggest that post-Katrina reforms brought many noticeable improvements in academic outcomes but left some teachers and families feeling left out of the decision-making process.
SOURCE: Douglas Harris and Jamie Carroll, “The New Orleans post-Katrina school reforms: Twenty years of lessons,” Education Research Alliance for New Orleans (June 2025).
