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

Arliya Martin accepted her high school diploma with relief and gratitude. It was her ticket to better-paying work. But Martin didn’t take any classes or pass any tests to receive her degree. She got it in July from a school where students can get a high school diploma for $465. Unlike public schools, formal homeschooling programs, or traditional private schools, nearly 9,000 private schools in Louisiana don’t need state approval to grant degrees. Nearly every one of those unapproved schools was created to serve a single homeschooling family, but some have buildings, classrooms, teachers, and dozens of students. While unapproved schools account for a small percentage of the state’s students, those 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. U.S. public school enrollment fell by more than 1.2 million students in the first two years of the pandemic. Many switched to private schools or told their state they were homeschooling. Thousands of others could not be accounted for at all. The students in Louisiana’s off-the-grid school system aren’t missing. But there’s no way to tell what kind of education they’re getting, or whether they’re getting one at all. Over 21,000 students are enrolled in the state’s unapproved schools, nearly double the number from before the pandemic. The place where Martin got her diploma, Springfield Preparatory School, bills itself as an umbrella school for Christian homeschoolers. Most students there do attend the school to work toward an education through actual classes or tutoring. However, principal Kitty Sibley Morrison is also willing to grant a diploma to anyone whose parents say they were homeschooled, even years earlier. “Their parents are in charge of them, not the state,” Sibley Morrison said. Morrison says she is not selling diplomas, but rather lifetime services for homeschooling families. Yet a list of prices is taped to the front window of the school building: $250 for diploma services, a $50 application fee, $35 for a diploma cover, and $130 to walk in a cap and gown at a ceremony. This article was provided by The Associated Press.