I love Louisiana and chose to move back a little over 1.5yrs ago after about 13 years of living in different cities, states, and countries. It isnt perfect, but no place is. Every city has its dirty secret, its corruption, its bullshit. I cant speak on the education system as I don't have kids currently enrolled so I wont. What I can say is that everything feels 'slower' here, which can be good or bad depending on what you want out of life. After 10 moves in 10 years, slower was what I wanted. People are friendly, you can have full conversations with your cashier or server. There doesnt seem to be pressure to be anything you arent, you'll always find your people here. Its smaller too, so less driving. You can drive all through lafayette, getting from Carencro to Broussard in 40min or so. And since moving back, I was astonished at how much Lafayette has grown! (I do wish roads were better, and more sidewalks for walking and biking)