House Bill No. by Representative Mandie Landry amends the Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (LA GATOR) Scholarship Program, focusing on student assessments and school accountability. The bill mandates the Louisiana Department of Education (DOE) to develop a process for the annual administration of all examinations required under the school and district accountability system, replacing the previous option for nonpublic schools to select their assessments. Additionally, the DOE is required to create a scholarship cohort index using criteria similar to those for public school performance scores, assign letter grades to nonpublic schools based on assessment scores, and publish these grades alongside public school scores.

The bill also introduces specific accountability measures for participating nonpublic schools, including restrictions on enrolling new scholarship recipients if their cohort index falls below fifty for consecutive years. Schools that consistently score below this threshold will face sanctions, including potential ineligibility for the program. The legislation retains existing provisions that exempt certain students from assessments and requires the DOE to ensure that assessment results are reported to parents and the public.

Statutes affected:
HB243 Original: