Barbara Leader, the editor of the Monroe News Star, has been named the new executive editor of The Lafayette Daily Advertiser in Lafayette and the state editor for Gannett’s Louisiana newspapers.

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In 2012, while reporting for the News Star, Leader broke a statewide story illustrating problems with the state’s education voucher program. The story led to changes to the process of vetting schools that apply to be a part of the voucher system.

Over the next year, Leader continued to expose problems with the state’s voucher system. Using public records, she obtained emails from personal accounts between then-Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White and then-Gov. Bobby Jindal’s staff regarding plans to distract the media from the voucher system’s issues. Her work was submitted by the News Star for consideration for The Pulitzer Prize.

You can read the full article here: https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2020/12/04/barbara-leader-named-new-lafayette-daily-advertiser-executive-editor/3827743001/

Here is an article that covers some of Barbara Leader’s work regarding the Louisiana State Voucher System: https://louisianavoice.com/2013/10/18/another-day-another-embarrassment-for-john-white-doe-thanks-to-news-star-reporter-barbara-leader-doing-her-job/