Just like us college students, elementary and secondary students returned to school last week, many at new schools thanks to the sweeping education reform passed by the state last legislative session.

Louisiana passed a voucher program last spring in an attempt to save the students from both failing public schools and liberal educations. Parents of students that are eligible for the vouchers can now send their children to private schools on the taxpayer’s dime.

Of some 120 schools receiving vouchers, most are religious schools. Let’s ignore for a moment the clear violation of the separation of church and state and look at what some of these schools will be teaching.

The Eternity Christian Academy in Westlake made news over the summer after media got a look at their textbooks. The Academy is teaching from a biology textbook that the Loch Ness Monster – yes, that’s right – is real and disproves evolution.

“Are dinosaurs alive today? Scientists are becoming more convinced of their existence,” reads the Accelerated Christian Education biology textbook. “Have you heard of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’ in Scotland? ‘Nessie’ for short has been recorded on sonar from a small submarine, described by eyewitnesses and photographed by others. Nessie appears to be a plesiosaur.”

The implications are that people and dinosaurs lived and continue to live with each other.

This disproves evolution because obviously the dinosaurs didn’t evolve into other things.

Sure it does.

Closer to home, The Northeast Baptist School in West Monroe uses the A Beka Book Publications and Bob Jones University Press Publications to teach its students. According to a “Mother Jones” article, the lessons found in some of those books include:

• Dragons were real – “[Is] it possible that a fire-breathing animal really existed? Today some scientists are saying yes.” – “Life Science, third edition,” Bob Jones Press.

• God used the Trail of Tears to bring many Indians to Christ – “America: Land That I Love,” A Beka Book Publications.

• The Great Depression was mostly liberal propaganda – “United States History: Heritage and Freedom,” second edition, A Beka Book.

• Communism is the devil’s tool – “It is no wonder that Satan hates the family and has hurled his venom against it in the form of Communism,” – “American Government in Christian Perspective,” second edition, A Beka Book Publications.

The list goes on. The “News Star” reported last week Northeastern Louisiana school districts are predicted to lose $2.6 million because of students transferring from public schools to nonpublic schools, some of which are receiving vouchers and teaching some of the absurdities mentioned above.

I’ll be the first to admit the Louisiana public schools system needs some help. According to the Louisiana Department of Education, the state is below the national average in nearly every learning category.

But the solution isn’t penalizing all public schools by jerking their funding and giving it to religious schools. It’s an all-around failure. Public schools lose funding, and the religious schools teach things that just aren’t true.

This voucher system isn’t giving people personal liberty or better educations. It’s state-funded indoctrination at the expense of the public schools and taxpayers. Teaching such nonsense is not going to prepare students for anything but a Jimmy Swaggart sermon.

Louisiana will never excel in education so long as the state is paying to teach far-right religious slant. The voucher system sure won’t accomplish anything but embarrassment for Louisiana.

It embarrasses me as a taxpayer; it embarrasses me as a Louisiana high school graduate; and it embarrasses me as a Christian.