§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.
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§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.