BATON ROUGE — State education officials said Wednesday they would find a new way to honor Louisiana's top-performing schools after the federal government dropped its Blue Ribbon Schools program.

The U.S. Department of Education notified state education departments last month that it was ending the recognition program "in the spirit of returning education to the states." The federal government had recognized each state's top schools since early in the Reagan administration.

Locally, Mayfair Laboratory School and St. Aloysius Elementary School were honored last year. 

In an email to WBRZ, state Education Department spokesman Ted Beasley said Louisiana would find other ways to recognize achievement.

"We feel that through programs such as our Louisiana Models of Excellence, we can continue to celebrate and spotlight schools for academic excellence," he said. "We also have a host of programs that celebrate students, educators, and support staff."

The U.S. Education Department website Wednesday still touted the program's goals.

"Since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has honored America’s most successful public and non-public elementary, middle, and high schools," it said. "A National Blue Ribbon Schools flag waving overhead has become a trademark of excellence, a symbol of quality recognized by everyone from parents to policymakers in thousands of communities."