Starting and running a small school in Louisiana

What the statute requires

• The compulsory attendance law defines a school, and ties staff qualifications to public money

  A school is “an institution for the teaching of children, consisting of an adequate physical plant, whether owned or leased, instructional staff members, and students.” If the school is public or is a nonpublic school “which receives local, state, or federal funds or support, directly or indirectly,” its instructional staff must be certified under BESE rules; if it receives none, staff “shall meet such requirements as may be prescribed by the school or the church.” The old 180-day minimum session no longer applies, though BESE may set a minimum by rule. Since Act 1 of 2024 a child in the LA GATOR program is deemed in attendance at a day school. Compulsory age runs from five, by 30 September, to eighteen.

  R.S. 17:236(A)–(B); R.S. 17:221(A)(1)(b) · last read 19 October 2026

• Every school checks attendance each day and each class period, and reports every pupil within 30 days of the term

  The principals or heads and the teachers of “all schools, public, private, denominational, and parochial” report in writing to the parish or city supervisor of child welfare and attendance “the name, birthdate, race, parents, and residence of each pupil in attendance at their schools or classes within thirty days after the beginning of the school term or session.” Attendance “shall be checked each school day and at the beginning of each class period and shall be verified by the teacher keeping such record,” open to the supervisor's inspection, and every unexplained, unexcused or illegal absence or habitual tardiness is reported immediately. Any school must say, on the district's request, whether a named student is enrolled and meeting compulsory attendance. Violation is punished under R.S. 17:221: up to $15, each day a separate offence.

  Where this is unsettled: Subsection C exempts a school that receives no local, state or federal funds or support, directly or indirectly, “and in which neither students nor their parents are recipients or beneficiaries of any local, state, or federal education program or assistance,” except for the 30th-day total-attendance report to the Department. On the text, one LA GATOR student ends the exemption for the whole school.

  R.S. 17:232(A)–(E) · last read 19 October 2026

• Immunization: check every record, and send compliance data to the health department by 1 October

  Every person entering any school in the state for the first time, and every person entering sixth grade, presents evidence of immunity or immunization on the Office of Public Health schedule, or of a program in progress; a transfer student brings a certificate or a physician's letter. Chief administrators of all schools “whether public or private” are “responsible for checking students' records to see that the provisions of this Section are enforced” and must electronically transmit immunization compliance reports to the Louisiana Department of Health when the school operates a student-specific electronic data system. The Department of Health's reporting page sets the deadline at 1 October, through the school module of LINKS, and asks schools with kindergarten, sixth and eleventh grade students to enter records each fall. A written dissent from the parent or student, or a physician's statement, exempts the child, and every communication about the requirement must quote that exemption; no one may be required to take a COVID-19 vaccine to enrol or attend.

  R.S. 17:170(A), (B), (D), (E); Louisiana Department of Health, School Reporting Requirements · last read 19 October 2026

• Approved schools: 57,750 instructional minutes, degreed or certified teachers, a principal with a master's

  Each approved school adopts a calendar of 57,750 minutes of instructional time a year, and may vary minutes per day and days per year as long as the total is scheduled; recess, lunch and class changes do not count. Each member of the instructional staff teaching secular subjects either holds a valid Louisiana teaching certificate for the courses taught, or has a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution with a college major in the teaching assignment (elementary education for self-contained classrooms in grades 1 through 8) and 12 semester hours of professional education, earned within three years; a one-year Nonpublic Temporary Teaching Authorization covers the gap. The principal, assistant principal or headmaster holds a master's degree or a principalship on a Louisiana certificate and is a full-time, on-site employee who may also teach.

  LAC 28:LXXIX §§ 117(A), 301(A), 303(A), Louisiana Administrative Code December 2025 · last read 19 October 2026

• No nonpublic school may hire anyone convicted of a listed crime or on the child-abuse registry; approved schools run the Bureau check on every hire

  R.S. 17:15 names nonpublic schools directly: a person convicted of a crime listed in R.S. 15:587.1(C), or recorded on the Department of Children and Family Services' state central registry on or after 1 August 2018, “shall not be hired by a city, parish, or other local public school board or a nonpublic school or school system” as a bus operator, janitor “or as a temporary, part-time, or permanent school employee of any kind,” and no nonpublic school may knowingly hire such a person as an administrator, teacher or substitute. Contracted cafeteria, transportation, janitorial, maintenance and student-services staff count as hired by the school. Bulletin 741 (Nonpublic) adds the mechanism for approved schools: a written request to the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information for every applicant and employee, signed by the person; dismissal of anyone convicted of a listed crime, reported to the state superintendent within thirty days; and an employee's duty to report a conviction to the employer within 48 hours.

  R.S. 17:15(A)(1); LAC 28:LXXIX § 123(A), (D), (F)–(G) · last read 19 October 2026

What you file, and with whom

• Ten days to notify the public school a new student came from

  “Every private school approved pursuant to R.S. 17:11, every nonapproved private school,” and every public adult education program gives written notice of enrollment for each student who attended a public school immediately before enrolling, whether the student withdrew mid-year or finished the previous year there, directly to that public school, within ten days of enrollment. A transcript request after acceptance counts, and the notice carries at least the student's legal name, date of birth, gender and race. A district may also ask about any student it believes is enrolled, and the school answers within ten days. Bulletin 741 (Nonpublic) repeats the ten-day duty for “every nonpublic school, approved or nonapproved.”

  R.S. 17:221.3(B)–(D); LAC 28:LXXIX § 509(B) · last read 19 October 2026

• Approved schools file the Annual School Report by 15 October, and annual enrollment in EdLink from August

  Bulletin 741 (Nonpublic) requires each nonpublic school to submit an annual school report to the Department “according to the established time line,” and sets the date: “By October 15, the principal shall forward a report through the nonpublic superintendent's or administrator's office, to the LDE, on forms provided for that purpose,” authorised by the school's administrative head. The school also supplies what the Annual Financial and Statistical Report needs, submits a transcript for approval before any student graduates from its high school, and files “any other records and reports applicable to nonpublic schools that may be required by BESE or the LDE.” The Department's page adds the mechanics: an annual BESE-approval application, and an annual enrollment report window in EdLink that opens in August and is “a requirement for BESE Approval.”

  LAC 28:LXXIX (Bulletin 741 Nonpublic) §§ 525, 527(B), 529, 531, 535, Louisiana Administrative Code December 2025; LDOE, BESE-Approved Nonpublic Schools · last read 19 October 2026

What you have to keep

How this part is kept in Pearspark: attendance is a register per school year, immunizations are tracked against the list your state sets, enrollment and withdrawal dates sit on the student record, and each student's permanent records stay retrievable by the family and by a receiving school even if the school closes. How records work.

• Registration and attendance records, a permanent record and a health record for every student, and a copy to the parent if the school closes

  Each nonpublic school “shall keep records which shall provide for the registration and attendance of students and shall maintain an up-to-date permanent record of individual students showing personal data and progress through school,” with procedures for confidentiality and parental access, and may not disclose a student's confidential records without written parental consent except as FERPA or a court allows. A health record is kept on each student from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. “If a school discontinues its operation, it must provide the parent or receiving school with an up-to-date copy of the permanent student record, if requested.” A transferring student carries a certified transcript showing attendance, achievement and credits; a school receiving a student from an unapproved school decides placement and may set an entrance examination. Any school employee with reasonable cause to believe a student has been abused reports it to the authorities, and every alleged abuse in a school setting is reported immediately to parents and law enforcement.

  LAC 28:LXXIX §§ 501(B), 505(A)–(C), 509, 511, 519, 1303, Louisiana Administrative Code December 2025 · last read 19 October 2026

School-choice program conditions

• LA GATOR pays only BESE-approved, Brumfield-compliant schools, quarterly, after that quarter's enrollment and attendance data

  To participate, a school must be “approved by the state board pursuant to R.S. 17:10 or 11,” comply with Brumfield v. Dodd, and meet BESE's program rules; it applies, and once eligible accepts account funds for qualified expenses and “shall annually report its full-time tuition and fees to the department.” The Department allocates funds to each account quarterly, and BESE policy makes the school's money conditional: “Tuition and fee payments will be transferred quarterly to participating nonpublic schools subject to submission of required student enrollment and attendance data for the quarter according to the procedures established by the LDOE.” A reservation payment taken before the year starts is deducted from later quarters and goes back to LDOE if the family does not enrol. Schools that are not BESE-approved may apply only as service providers. Nothing in the chapter limits a participating school's independence, and no school must alter its creed, practices, admissions policy or curricula.

  R.S. 17:4037.8(A), (D)(1), (D)(4); R.S. 17:4037.6(A)–(B); LDOE, LA GATOR Policy (Bulletin 133) · last read 19 October 2026

• The annual attestations: five days to report a withdrawal or a fifth unexcused absence, background checks, a tuition report, an occupancy certificate, assessments, and a bond for young schools

  As a condition of the application and annually thereafter, a participating school attests that it will accept funds only for approved expenses; “notify the LDOE within 5 days if a participating student withdraws or accumulates five or more unexcused absences within one semester”; stay Brumfield-compliant; ensure everyone with supervisory or disciplinary authority over participating students has cleared a criminal background check and fingerprinting under R.S. 15:587.1 and 15:587.3 by LDOE's deadlines; “annually report its full-time tuition and fees to the LDOE”; hold valid occupancy of its buildings as the municipality requires; and administer the assessments in Bulletin 133 § 1525. The statute also requires BESE to demand a surety bond or letter of credit from a school “operating for fewer than three years” that will receive “more than one hundred thousand dollars in account funds in a school year.” A participating school may not charge a GATOR family tuition or fees that non-participating students do not pay.

  LDOE, LA GATOR Policy (Bulletin 133, LAC 28:CLIII § 1515); R.S. 17:4037.5(A)(5) · last read 19 October 2026

• No refund to the family, annual testing with results published, and three award tiers

  “No account funds shall be refunded, rebated, or shared with a parent or student in any manner. Any rebate or refund for goods or services purchased with account funds shall be credited directly to the account.” Accounts close and funds return to the general fund when the parent enrols the student full time in a public school, misuses funds, withdraws the student, when the student graduates, or after two years' inactivity. Every participating student takes, each year, either the state accountability examination in English language arts and mathematics at the prescribed grade or a nationally norm-referenced test BESE approves; a participating nonpublic school may, with BESE approval, select an assessment aligned with its program of study, and a student with an exceptionality takes nothing a public school would have exempted. The Department collects and publishes aggregate results and gives them to parents. For 2026–27 the policy page states the awards: $5,243 for most students (55 percent of the base amount), $7,626 for a family at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines (80 percent), and up to $15,253 for a student with a disability under IDEA (up to 160 percent, tiered).

  R.S. 17:4037.6(D)–(E); R.S. 17:4037.10; LDOE, LA GATOR Policy (award amounts) · last read 19 October 2026