Does it Take a Hurricane to Reform the Schools?

New Orleans is home to the most choice-friendly school system in the country, with more than 70 percent of its students attending charter schools. This was Hurricane Katrina's silver lining: After the long-failing school system was literally destroyed, it could be rebuilt from the ground up.

Paul Pastorek, superintendent of Louisiana Schools since 2007, has been trying to shakeup the education system not only in New Orleans but throughout the state through initiatives such as assigning letter grades for all schools, school board reform, and a new law that aims to cut red tape.

Reason.tv sat down with Pastorek at the National Summit on Education Reform in Washington, D.C., to discuss whether a catastrophe like Katrina is necessary to rebuild an education system.

This interview is part of National School Choice Week, a non-partisan initiative to raise awareness of how competition and choice can transform K-12 education.

Approximately 2 minutes. Filmed by Jim Epstein and Meredith Bragg, and edited by Epstein. Interview by Nick Gillespie.

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For Reason.tv's short documentary on school choice in New Orleans, go here.

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