Diplomas for sale: $465, no classes required. Inside one of Louisiana’s unapproved schools

By SHARON LURYE
Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, La. (AP) — Nearly 9,000 private schools in Louisiana don’t need state approval to grant degrees. They’re unlike public schools, formal homeschooling programs or traditional private schools. Almost all such unapproved schools serve a single homeschooling family, but some have buildings, classrooms, teachers and dozens of students. Unapproved schools make up a small percentage of the state total. But the students in Louisiana’s off-the-grid school system are a rapidly growing example of the nation’s continuing fallout from COVID-19 — families disengaging from traditional education. Over 21,000 students are enrolled in the state’s unapproved schools, nearly double the number from before the pandemic.