Bill > HB243

This bill modifies the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (LA GATOR) Scholarship Program by establishing new testing and accountability requirements for nonpublic schools participating in the program. The bill requires participating schools to administer all state-mandated examinations at prescribed grade levels and eliminates previous options for alternative testing. The Louisiana Department of Education will develop a "scholarship cohort index" that assigns letter grades to participating schools using similar criteria as the public school accountability system. Schools will be evaluated differently based on their enrollment, with public reporting of test scores contingent on having at least ten participating students taking tests. Schools that receive a scholarship cohort index below 50 (on a 150-point scale) will face significant consequences, including being prohibited from enrolling new scholarship recipients. Specifically, if a school scores below 50 for two consecutive years or for the majority of years within a four-year period, it will be restricted from adding new scholarship students. Furthermore, schools that score below 50 for three consecutive years will be completely ineligible to participate in the program. The bill also ensures that assessment results will be collected, reported, and made available to parents and the public, while maintaining existing exemptions for students with exceptionalities.

Education

https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=25rs&b=HB243&sbi=y