Lafayette is just too big and still growing. Houma and Thibodaux and similarly situated towns (south of I-10) are far enough from I-10 and close enough to hurricane zones that I don't expect the growth to get out of control in my lifetime. They are closer to great fishing too.
Thibodaux also has Nicholls State U. Having a State U in a small town often raises the local school systems because a lot of faculty spouses teach in the local system and faculty children are in the system, so the influences tend to improve the local schools for all the residents. It doesn't really show up in the system wide ACT scores though.
See:
https://www.louisianabelieves.com/do...2.pdf?sfvrsn=2
We look hard for nearby employment that would have facilitated our children attending Nicholls State. It is much higher quality than a community college, with reasonable costs, and far fewer of the common distractions as LSU.