There are too many charter schools in New Orleans. There are not enough public schools with open enrollment affording access to troubled and disabled students.

Inasmuch as the needs of the most needy are ignored, the New Orleans public schools are not doing their job. There is too much restricted admission in the city's public schools, for these schools do not meet the real challenges of public school education.

A public school having a certain percentage of students attaining minimum scores on standardized tests or having a certain percentage of students graduate from high school is not as important as fulfilling the real mission: to afford an education that is commensurate with the needs and potential of all students, talented as well as untalented.

Eden Heilman of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Community Justice section of the Loyola Law Clinic and the Southern Disability Law Center seem to get the point as they have filed a complaint with the Louisiana Department of Education, which in their opinion has a legal and moral duty to intervene in this travesty against the city's youth. A federal lawsuit is certainly in order if the situation isn't rectified.

This is America, and the underlying foundation of our society is that all are created equal and have equal rights. Certainly this is applicable to something as basic and important as education.