Title 17. Education

Chapter 43-a. Public School Choice

17:4035.1        Public school choice

A. The parent or other legal guardian of any student may enroll his child in the public school of his choice, without regard to residence, school system geographic boundaries, or attendance zones, provided both of the following apply: 

(1) The public school in which the student was most recently enrolled, or would otherwise attend, received a school performance letter grade of “D” or “F” for the most recent school year, pursuant to the state’s school and district accountability system. 

(2) The school in which the student seeks to enroll received a school performance letter grade of “A”, “B”, or “C” for the most recent school year, pursuant to the state’s school and district accountability system, and has sufficient capacity at the appropriate grade level. 

B. The authority to enroll a student in the public school of choice shall not be permitted and shall not be exercised if doing so violates the order of a court of competent jurisdiction. 

C. (1) If a school or governing authority denies the enrollment request of a prospective student for an intradistrict transfer, the parent or legal guardian of the student may request a review of the denial of the transfer requested by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Within ninety days of receipt of a request for review, the state board shall determine if the capacity policy established for the school was followed. If the state board determines that the school’s policy was not followed, the school’s governing authority shall reconsider the transfer request. However, the state board shall not approve any transfer request that would exceed the enrollment capacity of a school or classroom, as established by the school’s governing authority. 

(2) The state board shall adopt rules required for implementation of this Subsection. 

D. Notwithstanding the provisions of R.S. 17:158 to the contrary, a school system shall not be required to provide transportation to any student enrolled in a public school pursuant to this Section that is located outside of the geographic boundaries of the school system in which the student resides, if providing such transportation will result in additional cost to the school system. 

E. Any student enrolled in a public school pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall be counted by the local public school system in which he is enrolled for purposes of the minimum foundation program and formula, and any other available state or federal funding for which the student is eligible. 

F. (1) The governing authority of each public elementary and secondary school shall work collaboratively and cooperatively to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Section and shall adopt a policy to govern student transfers authorized by this Section. The policies shall include: 

(a) A definition of “capacity” for each school. 

(b) The transfer request period, which shall begin no later than March first and end no earlier than March twenty-eighth, annually. 

(2) Prior to the transfer request period, the public school governing authority shall notify parents and legal guardians of students enrolled in a school that received a “D” or “F” school performance letter grade pursuant to the state’s school and district accountability system for the most recent school year of the following: 

(a) The provisions of this Section. 

(b) The schools under the jurisdiction of the governing authority that received an “A”, “B”, or “C” school performance letter grade, if any. 

(c) The process for submitting student transfer requests. 

(d) The page on the state Department of Education’s website that contains school performance data. 

(3) Such policies shall be posted to the school governing authority’s website no later than January 1, 2022, and reported to the state Department of Education no later than January 30, 2022. 

(4) Any student transfer pursuant to the provisions of this Section shall comply with the policy adopted by the governing authority of the school in which the student seeks to enroll. 

G. The state board shall report to the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education no later than October thirty-first annually regarding student transfers including but not limited to the following information, disaggregated by economically disadvantaged status and race and ethnicity: 

(1) The number of interdistrict student transfer requests received, accepted, appealed, and denied during the most recent school year. 

(2) The number of intradistrict student transfer requests received, accepted, appealed, and denied during the most recent school year. 

H. The provisions of this Chapter shall not be construed as requiring a school with selective admission requirements to enroll a student who does not meet those requirements, regardless of whether the school has excess capacity. 

Added by Acts 2014, No. 853, § 1, eff. June 23, 2014. Amended by Acts 2015, No. 297, § 1; Acts 2018, No. 459, § 1; Acts 2021, No. 420, § 1.