NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Orleans Parish School Board has voted to use $1.5 million of its $62.5 million surplus to begin the massive effort of returning most New Orleans public schools to local control.
Officials say the $1.5 million the board approved Tuesday will be used to hire staff to work on the transition.
The New Orleans Advocate’s Jessica Williams reports the money, which will come from the board's general fund balance, is in addition to the $28 million officials previously estimated it will cost to transfer all Recovery School District charter schools to the local board by 2019.
New Orleans schools that were taken over by the state after Hurricane Katrina must return to the local school district within three years, as mandated by a law passed by the Legislature this spring.
