DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part of the
legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute part of the law
or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 494 Original 2021 Regular Session Mincey
Abstract: Requires a written agreement between affected public school governing authorities and
a parent for a student to attend the public school of his choice.
Present law allows parents to enroll children in the public school of their choice, without regard to
residence, school system geographic boundaries, or attendance zones, if 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.
(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 and has sufficient capacity at the
appropriate grade level.
Proposed law removes school performance letter grade and school capacity requirements.
Present law further provides for public school choice as follows:
(1)The authority to enroll a student in the public school of choice shall not be exercised if doing
so violates a court order.
(2)A public school governing authority shall not be required to provide transportation to any
student enrolled in a public school that is located outside the geographic boundaries of the
school district in which he resides if it will result in additional cost to the governing
authority.
Proposed law removes such provisions.
Present law provides a student enrolled in a public school shall be counted by the public school
governing authority in which he is enrolled for purposes of the Minimum Foundation Program
formula and any other available state or federal funding for which the student is eligible. Proposed
law retains present law.
Proposed law requires, for a student to transfer to a public school of his choice, a written agreement
between his current public school governing authority, his prospective public school governing
authority, and his parent to address at a minimum: (1)Transportation for the student to and from the admitting school.
(2)Local funds to be transferred to cover the cost of the student's transfer.
(3)The conditions for which the agreement may be terminated.
(4)An acknowledgment that the transfer agreement does not guarantee future enrollment beyond
the timeline and scope of the agreement.
(Amends R.S. 17:4035.1(A), (B), and (C))