“Build a School, Rebuild a City” An economic examination of the re-structured education system in New Orleans, 10 years after Hurricane Katrina

The city could have died. But it didn’t. Though the damage to the city of New Orleans in 2005 was devastating in ways that shocked the nation ten years ago, its culture and people are alive and thriving today. The depth of passion in New Orleans motivated and inspired individuals to move back to the city quickly and restore its glory. However, such rapid restoration is not without vast socioeconomic challenges. Education is a vital component of any thriving social system, and the education system in New Orleans has rebuilt itself in a unique way: largely through charter schools. This ten-year mission of deeply contemplating how best to educate children shows how economic development, privatization, and consumer choice change the landscape of primary and secondary education in a way unmatched by any other school reform movements in the country, due to the state of the school system pre- and post-Katrina. Referred to by some as, “the greatest experiment in the history of American education,” (Rebirth) post-Katrina New Orleans demonstrates the social and economic issues that are integral factors in shaping a nation’s education system