In the aftermath of the catastrophic devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita came an opportunity to recreate a public school system through bold innovation and community involvement. This process has been integral to the city and region’s recovery.

Walter Isaacson recently called New Orleans “the Greatest Education Lab.” “They want to give leaders their own schools, give the parents a choice and let the state funding follow the pupils to whatever schools the parents choose,” he said. By committing to educational entrepreneurship, we have attracted some of the nation’s best minds to set up shop in the city and have engaged local institutions and leaders to partner in our public education system, solidifying the role of public schools as cornerstones of our communities.

To truly revamp a long-failing system, stakeholders churned out new ideas. Sarah Usdin formed an organization called New Schools for New Leaders, with the mission of supporting school leaders who wanted to open charters or bring innovative approaches to education in New Orleans.

Scott Cowen president of Tulane University was the leading voice for public school reform on Mayor Ray Nagin’s Bring New Orleans Back Commission, the mayor’s advisory committee on rebuilding. In addition to providing support for Uptown’s Lusher Charter School and holding town hall meetings to engage the community, he also started the Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives. It provides individuals and communities with best practices for programs, partnerships and policies to increase student performance and transform New Orleans public schools.

Prior to the storms, the University of New Orleans (UNO) had already begun to take a hands-on approach to reinventing failing schools in New Orleans when in 2004 they opened the Pierre A. Capdau-UNO Charter School. The storm breathed new life into the idea of universities managing local charter schools, and I have been proud to secure federal funds to support this model in Louisiana. After the storms, UNO opened several additional charter schools. The schools have revived the surrounding UNO neighborhoods of Gentilly and Lakefront, increasing parent involvement and attracting families to come back home. Dillard University is exploring opening a charter school adjacent to the Gentilly campus. Today more than 57 percent of the city’s public school students attend public charter schools, and more than half of our public schools are independently chartered, the highest percentage in the country.

Choice within the public school system and the chance for excellence has truly been one of the exciting developments in education in the past few decades, but charter schools still face many institutional barriers to their approval. We must strengthen federal programs that support the creation and growth of public charter schools. The federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) has provided more than $1.6 billion in start-up funding to schools around the country, and the federal Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities program provides grants to enhance charter schools’ ability to leverage private capital. These programs were disappointingly under-funded in last year’s congressional budget. If we are to meet the demand for quality charter schools nationally, we must adequately fund them and reward states that promote the creation of high-quality charter schools.

All families should have access to choice among public schools that include innovative models like those in New Orleans. Unfortunately, states and school districts do not always distribute their resources equitably among all public schools. This not only shortchanges low-income neighborhoods, but also often leaves out charter schools and other innovative approaches. With Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), I coauthored the All Students Can Achieve Act, S. 1200. The bill reauthorizes and improves the No Child Left Behind Act, in part by promoting equitable distribution of resources among all different types of public schools in every community.

This June, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is hosting the 8th Annual National Charter School Conference in New Orleans. This is a tremendous opportunity for educational leaders, thinkers and policymakers to both discuss the future of charter schools and witness their success firsthand. When these participants get out into our communities, I know they will be impacted by the connection between parents, neighborhoods and schools and most importantly, our commitment to provide academic excellence for every child. And I hope they will take back to their own communities a renewed sense of hope in the promise of public school choice.

As New Orleans recreates itself, we will develop a new model for public education that reaches every child and helps them to reach for the stars.

Landrieu is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.