2/3 in state-run schools in N. Orleans flunk test

NEW ORLEANS, La. (AP) — About two-thirds of students in New Orleans high schools that were taken over by the state after Hurricane Katrina flunked the state graduation exam, according to figures released Thursday.

About 40 percent of the city's fourth-graders and a third of the eighth-graders in those schools failed promotion exams.

When Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, and flooded 80 percent of the city, it also shut down the city's already troubled public school system, which ran more than 100 schools.

Since then, 58 have reopened: 22 are run by the state's Recovery School District, five remain under the authority of the city's school board, and 31 have been handed over to private charter organizations.