To my mind, the front of public education is one of the most absolutely fundamental battles conservatives need to be fighting from the local level on up, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has made it his signature mission to reform Louisiana’s failing public school system into a workable model that presents equal opportunities to children from all incomes and backgrounds — much to the chagrin of Big Labor, the Obama administration, and Democrats in general. The Obama DOJ has been hypocritically employing the justice system to get in the way of the state’s school voucher program, but Jindal is having none of it:

Who could be against giving choices to parents? Eric Holder and President Obama, that’s who could be against giving parents choices. The Department of Justice has taken us to federal court to try to impede this program. Now, I want you to think about this. We’ve got Eric Holder and the Department of Justice trying to stand in the schoolhouse door to prevent minority kids, low-income kids, kids who haven’t had access to a great education the chance to go better schools. Over 90 percent of these kids are minority children. Over 100 percent of these kids are in low-income families who would otherwise go to C, D, or F schools. … I think it is cynical, immoral, and hypocritical for the attorney general and the president to deny these children the same choices and chances they would want for their own children. … It’s especially cynical to try to use those same rules designed to protect these children to trap them in failing schools. But I’ve got a message for Eric Holder and I’ve got a message for the president: We’re going to fight them every step of the way, even at the United States Supreme Court, to defend these children’s rights.

Incidentally, Reason has a great new video out today about a similar charter-school battle taking place in New York City, definitely worth the watch: