§10.7. School and district accountability; schools in districts in academic crisis; transfer to Recovery School District

A.(1) Each elementary or secondary school that participates in a Spring cycle of student testing and has a baseline school performance score below the state average and each alternative school, established pursuant to R.S. 17:100.5, that provides educational services to students a majority of whose test scores are reported back to such an elementary or secondary school under a uniform statewide program of school accountability established pursuant to rules adopted under authority of law by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, referred to in this Section as "the state board", that is a school in or granted a charter by a city, parish, or other local public school system that has been declared to be academically in crisis pursuant to R.S. 17:10.6, and that has at least one school eligible to transfer to the Recovery School District pursuant to R.S. 17:10.5, shall be designated a failing school and shall be transferred to the jurisdiction of the Recovery School District established in R.S. 17:1990. The Recovery School District, referred to in this Section as "the recovery district", shall provide all educational services required of any city, parish, or other local public school system in order to meet the educational needs of all students residing in the jurisdiction of the transferring local school system who were attending a transferred school or who would have been eligible to attend such transferred school because of the residential location of the student or as the result of any other option or program available to the student.

(2) On and after November 15, 2009, no additional schools shall be transferred to the jurisdiction of the recovery district pursuant to this Section.

B.(1) Any school transferred to the recovery district pursuant to this Section shall be reorganized as necessary and operated by the recovery district, pursuant to its authority, in whatever manner is determined by the administering agency of the recovery district to be most likely to improve the academic performance of each student in the school.

(2)(a)(i) The recovery district, as directed by its administering agency, shall manage the schools so transferred in a fashion that provides the best educational opportunity to all students who attended or were eligible to attend such schools without regard to the attendance zones related to such schools prior to the transfer. The authority provided in this Paragraph includes the authority to determine and act on which schools should be operated, which schools should be closed, which schools should be relocated or rebuilt, and what range of grades should be operated in each school.

(ii) However, the recovery district shall provide for and ensure that schools of appropriate grade that have open enrollment policies are operating and available for the enrollment of students in reasonable proximity to the neighborhoods where concentrations of students reside. The recovery district shall use the best information available to make the determinations of the location of such neighborhoods. The requirements of this Item shall be reflected in all planning, presenting, reviewing, and approving required by Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph.

(b)(i) Within six months after the transfer of a school to the recovery district pursuant to this Section, the recovery district shall develop and present to the state board, for its approval, a plan for the operation of all schools transferred. The plan shall be annually updated and reviewed by the state board.

(ii) The plan required in this Subparagraph shall address each of the following:

(aa) The educational needs of all students.

(bb) The number and location of schools to be operated to provide appropriate educational services to all students. This plan element shall include provision for changes in the student population being served.

(cc) A method for maintaining clear communication among interested parties, including the recovery district, the Louisiana Recovery Authority, the chief executive officer of the governing authority of the relevant municipality or parish, the parents and guardians of children for whom the recovery district is required to provide educational services, and the city, parish, or other local public school board from which schools were transferred.

(iii) The requirements of this Subparagraph shall not preclude the operation of a limited number of schools prior to completion and approval of the required plan provided that such schools are operated in direct response to the present needs of students and provided that the operation of such schools is approved by the state board after a review by the board of the data presented by the recovery district supporting the operation of the schools and review and consideration by the board of the efforts made by the recovery district to seek and consider input from the community and its leaders and the input gained from those efforts.

(3) The recovery district shall make an annual report to the House and Senate committees on education concerning the status, management, and operation of any school transferred to the recovery district pursuant to the provisions of this Section.

C.(1) The recovery district shall retain jurisdiction over any school transferred to it for a period of not less than five school years not including the school year in which the transfer occurred if the transfer occurred during a school year. At the end of the initial transfer period, the school may be returned to the system from which it was transferred unless the school is continued in the recovery district in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph (3) of this Subsection.

(2)(a) No later than nine months prior to the expiration of the initial or subsequent transfer period, the recovery district shall make a report to the state board.

(b) The report shall include at a minimum each of the following elements:

(i) The status of each school transferred, the nature of its faculty and administration, the demographics and size of its student body, its organizational and management structure, whether there has been improvement in student academic performance and, if so, how much and, if not, why not.

(ii) A recommendation as to whether the school should be:

(aa) Continued in the recovery district pursuant to its reported operational status.

(bb) Continued in the recovery district with a change in its operational status and the nature of the recommended change.

(cc) Closed and the reasons therefor.

(dd) Returned to the administration and management of the transferring system with proposed stipulations and conditions for the return.

(3) No later than six months prior to the expiration of the initial or subsequent transfer period, the state board shall take action on the recommendations of the recovery district. Additionally, no later than six months prior to the expiration of the initial or subsequent transfer period, the state board shall conduct a public hearing within the jurisdiction of the city, parish, or other local public school board from which the school was transferred relative to whether the school should be continued in the recovery district or returned to the system. The state board by a majority vote of its membership may continue any school in the recovery district for additional periods of five years.

D. At the time of the transfer of a school to the recovery district, the parent or guardian with responsibility for decisions regarding the education of any student attending a transferred school or any student who would be assigned to attend a transferred school shall be able to continue to have their child enrolled in and attend a school under the jurisdiction of the recovery district or may exercise an option, if one is made available by the city, parish, or other local public school board from which the school is being transferred to have the child enroll in or attend another school operated by the school board.

Acts 2005, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 35, §1, eff. Nov. 30, 2005; Acts 2008, No. 737, §1, eff. July 6, 2008.