Louisiana

In 2011, in Berry v. Pastorek, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied the state defendants’ motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs seek a permanent injunction to prevent defendants from continuing to violate these federal laws, including ending disciplinary practices that harm students with disabilities.

Education “reform” in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina gave the state control over a majority of the schools and authorized over 50 charters. Plaintiffs in Berry v. Pastorek allege that the state is violating the federal IDEA, ADA, and Rehabilitation Act, by denying thousands of students with disabilities their right to education. In 2010, after their administrative complaint against the Louisiana Board of Education stalled, the Berry plaintiffs filed this federal class action against the Louisiana State Superintendent of Education, Department of Education, and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

In 1998, in Charlet v. State, the state appellate court found that the state’s system of school funding did not violate either the equal protection or the education article of the Louisiana Constitution.  The court concluded that the constitution does not require education funding provided by the state to be adequate, only that the board of education develop and adopt a formula.

In 2005, in Jones v. State Bd. of Elementary and Secondary Educ., a state appellate court again found the funding system to be constitutional despite plaintiffs’ argument that it was deficient because it failed to provide any capital funding for school facilities.

“The legislature shall provide for the education of the people of the state and shall establish and maintain a public educational system.” La. Const.  art. VIII §1.

Article VIII Section 13 of the constitution also sets forth in great detail how the system should be funded.  Among its requirements, it directs the legislature to “annually appropriate funds sufficient to fully fund the current cost to the state of such a program as determined by applying the approved formula in order to insure a minimum foundation of education in all public elementary and secondary schools.”

The Louisiana Supreme Court has never considered any cases alleging that the state education funding system violated the state constitution education article.

The legislature has stated its “intention. . . that every at-risk preschool child in Louisiana should have access to an educationally appropriate early childhood program . . . .”  In 2008, legislation was passed mandating access for all 4-year-olds, regardless of income, by the 2013-2014 school year.

8(g) Student Enhancement Block Grant Program

This program is administered by the Department of Education with funds flowing directly to public school systems.  All school districts currently offer pre-K services to at-risk 4-year-olds through the Block Grant Program.

To be eligible to participate, children must be considered at risk of not being ready for the regular school program and priority is given to children from low-income families.

A full day program is offered without extended hours, following the regular school year calendar.

By the 2009-2010 school year, nearly all districts in the state were offering preschool education programs using the 8(g) Student Enhancement Block Grant Program.

The Cecil J. Picard LA4 Early Childhood Program

The LA4 program is administered by the Department of Education with funds flowing directly to public schools.  The LA4 program encourages schools participating in the program to share resources with other publicly funded providers and agencies for the delivery of pre-K services and to share responsibility for provisions of services.

The program serves 4-year-olds who qualify for free or reduced price lunch, but 4-year-olds from higher income families are also eligible to participate through local funds or tuition.

This is a full-day program of not less than 10 hours per day. 

Nonpublic Schools Early Childhood Development Program

The Office of Community Programs within Louisiana’s Governor’s Office administers the NSECD program for pre-K programs provided by non-public providers. 

This program provides tuition reimbursement to families with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level who send their 4-year-olds to state-approved private preschools. 

These programs must offer at least a 6-hour instructional day and up to 4 hours of before- and after-school services each day. 

Funding for pre-K in Louisiana comes from an amalgam of federal, state and local resources.

The LA4 Program is mostly funded by state appropriations, and supplemented by TANF funds. LA4 also charges tuition on a sliding scale basis to children who do not meet the income guidelines for the federal lunch program.  Federal TANF and block grant funds are also allocated for NSECD.

Other state resources for pre-K include tobacco settlement proceeds and the Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund, which collects revenue from mineral production and other activity on public lands.

According to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), Louisiana served 32% of 4 year-olds, in its state pre-K programs in 2009-2010. 

Quality Standards

8(g) Student Enhancement Block Grant Program

The Block Grant Program reached 8 out of 10 benchmarks in the 2009-2010 school year. 

The 8 benchmarks reached were:

• Early Learning Standards
• Teacher must have Bachelor’s degree
• Teacher must have specialized training in pre-K
• Teacher in-service (15 hours/year)
• Class size limits of 20 students
• Class ratio of 1:10 or better
• Requirement to provide at least one meal a day
• Monitoring/Site visit program

The 2 benchmarks not met were:

• Screening/referral and support services
• Assistant teacher must have a Child Development Associate credential, or equivalent

The Cecil J. Picard LA4 Early Childhood Program

The program meets an exceptionally high 9 out of the 10 NIEER benchmarks. 

The program does not require that teacher assistants have Child Development Associate degrees, failing this NIEER benchmark. 

The program has a limited class size, an appropriate student to teacher ratio, and screening and referral services. In addition, LA4 has a monitoring and site visit program and provides at least one meal a day to participants. As of 2009-2010, LA4 requires teachers to hold a Bachelor’s degree.

Nonpublic Schools Early Childhood Development Program

NSECD meets an exceptionally high 10 out of the 10 NIEER benchmarks. 

The program requires that teacher assistants have Child Development Associate degrees and that teachers have Bachelor’s degrees, and as of the 2009-2010 school year, requires teachers to have specialized training in pre-K.

The program does have a limited class size, an appropriate student to teacher ratio, and screening and referral services.  In addition, NSECD has a monitoring and site visit program and provides at least one meal a day to participants.

Every school board must develop a plan for evaluating the results of any pre-K program it operates.

LA4 requires an evaluation of the effectiveness of the program in improving children’s school preparedness in elementary school, particularly in reading, as well as the long-term effects on school success.

8(g) programs are required to report to the Louisiana Department of Education documenting the effectiveness of the program and how the funds were spent. In addition, 8(g) programs are subject to site visits to monitor program effectiveness.

NSECD programs must report to the state and are subject to monitoring.

Louisiana Revised Statutes

Louisiana Administrative Code

Louisiana Department of Education

Louisiana’s NSECD Program