Louisiana’s June 2024 Education Legislation

On June 19,2024, The office of Louisiana governor, Jeff Landry, issued this press release about a number of bills “that will transform our education system and bring back common sense in our classrooms.”

Not sure about the common sense part, but the most notable of the list, HB 71, has received much press for its mandating displaying the Ten Commandments in Louisiana’s K12 classrooms, certainly has been an attempt to “transform” classrooms by pushing a preferred state religion. On June 24, 2024, several organizations filed a lawsuit, with plaintiffs including parents of Louisiana public school students.

The Ten Commandments has cornered the market in press coverage since its emergence on Juneteenth, but there are several more pieces of education legislation listed in Landry’s June 19, 2024, press release (all marketed as “common sense”):

I have previously written about SB 313, the school voucher expansion, the La. GATOR program. Let’s briefly consider the remainder, most of which become effective August 01, 2024.

HB 46: Removes COVID Vaccine Requirement

HB 46: “No person shall be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of initial
enrollment or continuing attendance at a public or nonpublic school.” Note that to date, COVID vaccination for Louisiana public school attendance has not been a requirement.

HB 47: School Immunization Communications

Also about immunizations, HB 47 adds language about exemptions from vacination or proof of vaccination for distance learners or those who have a doctor’s excuse or even “a written dissent from the student or his parent or guardian” as well as the right to know about these rights. Even so, the Louisiana Department of Health, which acknowledges such immunization waiver rights, advises,

Although enforcement of vaccine requirements happens within the school system, vaccine recommendations apply to all children, including home study students, for protection in all social environments. 

The Louisiana Office of Public Health strongly encourages age-appropriate vaccinations for children. Immunizations reduce preventable death and disability for an individual child, interrupt disease transmission in communities and decreases the number of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks in Louisiana.

HB 908: Prohibits Discrimination Based on Vaccination Status

Still with the vaccines, HB 908 states that “No teacher or school employee or administrator shall distinguish between students based on whether a student has or has not received vaccines…,” inclusing particicpation in extracurricular activities and even “organizing seating arrangements.”

HB 320: “Let Teachers Teach”

On to curriculum and professional development: HB 320, nebulously named “Let Teachers Teach,” involves repealing a number of student instruction/professional development requirements and places the responsibility with the La. Baord of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to determine such requirements. Here’s the bill digest:

HB 121: Given Name Act

On to HB 121, the “Given Name Act.” Even though via HB 47 the 2014 Louisiana legislature is happy to allow students to refuse immunization without parental consent, students cannot decide on any nickname or alternative form of address “inconsistent with a person’s sex” without parental consent. There can be no school policies requiring address by preferred pronouns (though I have not seen such school policies to date). Moreover, like the Ten Commandments bill (HB 71), this bill includes a number of seemingly legal arguments to support the positions of the bill, which hints that the legislature apparently expects litigation on both bills. Finally, in an interesting twist to defining “male” and “female,” the bill’s authors include a catch-all excepting “developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident”:

Seems like having to address issues of anomaly and “historical accident” (catch-all to the catch-all?) undermines the bill’s authors’ efforts to present gender as in clear and simple terms.

At least HB 121 does not outlaw a respondent’s efforts to respect one’s colleagues’ and students’ preferred terms of address.

HB 122: “Let Kids be Kids”

HB 122, “Let Kids be Kids,” prohibits discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity between teachers and students. So, if a student asks a trusted teacher about such issues, the teacher should present as either heterosexual or neuter. The exception is seeking advice with parental permission “outside classroom hours”:

SB 205: “Teacher Compensation”

SB 205, “Teacher Compensation,” requires that schools and districts develop “supplementary salary schedules” that detail teacher compensation of at least $30/hr. for “duties performed beyond the scope of prescribed duties and responsibilities.” “Nonexempt” employees are also to be compensated for overtime work “in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act….” The bill also states that teachers be compensated for not being afforded the state-mandated minimum of 45 minutes of uninterrupted planning time.

In an interesting closing note, the bill, which seems to take up for labor, inlcudes the following disclaimer:

The provisions of this Subsection shall not be inferred in any manner to require nor be constructed to constitute collective bargaining.

HB 334: Chaplains

HB 334, “Chaplains,” states that schools may have a chaplain, or even more than one, either paid or as a volunteer. The bill language is a bit fuzzy. There is no criteria for these chaplains, other than they cannot be convicted sex offenders. Soooo, based on the language of the bill, these chaplains need not be Christian chaplains, or heterosexual chaplains, who are given immunity for their words so long as the intent is not malicious:

SB 508: Tutoring

SB 508, “Tutoring,” shifts tutoring focus from grades 3 – 8 to grades K – 5 for students “who failed to achieve mastery on any statewide assessment administered pursuant to the state’s school and district accountability system in reading or math in the previous academic year or performed below grade level on a literacy or numeracy screener in the current academic year.”

As for classroom placement for the above students, priority is given to “a teacher labeled as ‘highly effective’ pursuant to the state’s teacher evaluation system, if a highly effective teacher is available in the school.”

The bill also introduces “high-dosage tutoring“: “Incorporate direct instruction by tutors using formative assessments aligned with grade-level content and Tier 1 classroom instruction… sustained for a minimum of ten weeks… at least three times per week, in approximately thirty-minute minimum sessions, which may shall be embedded in the school day… us[ing] assessments throughout the school year to monitor student progress… provided by a consistent, [“high-quality] tutor or by a limited, consistent set of [“high-quality”] tutors throughout the student’s supplemental instruction period.” Finally, tutoring should be “individualized and provided at a ratio not higher than four students to one tutor.”

There are more details, including tutoring materials, evidence of student outcomes, and providing parents with a written tutoring plan.

HB 244: Literacy

Though HB 244 is labeled “literacy,” the bill renames the Steve Carter Literacy Program as the Steve Carter Education Program and adds language that includes mathematics, thereby addressing both “reading or mathematics difficulties” for K – 12 students.

As for cost of related tutoring: “A participating student may receive tutoring services in both reading and mathematics, but the total for all services shall not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars.” Tutors may be certified teachers but do not have to be. If a tutor receives the $30/hr. allotted to certified teachers for extra duties under SB 205, the money runs out at 50 hours per student per school year. If some money is used for materials, that’s even less left for tutoring.

HB 267: Numeracy

HB 267, “Numeracy,” involves administering numeracy screening within the first 30 days of the school year in grades K – 3 and providing supports and “targeted interventions” for students “identified as having numeracy skills below grade level.” Withing 15 days of identifying said students, schools must notify parents or legal guardians. Finally, teachers and admin must create a numeracy improvement plan for each identified student.

HB 644: Home Study

HB 644, “Home Study,” allows for homeschooled students who “live in the attendance zone of the public school” to “try out or apply for extracurricular activities or interscholastic athletics at the public school in the same manner, time, and place as the students who attend the public school.” In order to participate in extracurricular activities, homeschooled students must adhere to the same grade point average and disciplinary standards required of participants who attend public school. Finally, public schools cannot participate in events associated with or hold membership in organizations that would prohibit homeschooled students living in the public school zone from participating on a given public school team or in a given interscholastic or athletic event.

HB 967: Teacher Retirement

HB 967, “Teacher Retirement,” involves conditions for retired teachers and other classroom professionals to return to the classroom to help with critical shortage areas while continuing to receive retirement benefits. Employers must try to fill positions with certified teachers not yet retired by advertising positions “with every postsecondary institutions within a 120-mile radius of the employer’s governing authority” at the beginning of each semester via a general statement of future employee solicitation, as well as “advertising at least once per month in the official journal of the employer’s governing authority that the employer is soliciting applications for future employment of certified teachers” and “prominently displaying a listing of positions that are unfilled or that are filled by reemployed retirees on the website of the employer’s governing authority and of the employer, if the employer maintains a separate website.”

School districts must formally inform BESE of critical shortage areas; a given position must go to a certified teacher not yet retired “unless fewer than three applicants have applied for the position.”

Upon ending a return to service, retirees will be refunded the portion of their paychecks paid to the retirement system, without interest, and the return to service will not be counted as service credit.

HB 647: “Teacher Regulations”

HB 647, “Teacher Regulations,” “provides relative to student instruction requirements.” Specifically, the bill states that if a teacher is required to assume “additional student instruction,” the additional requirement must be “offset by the elimination of another instructional requirement” of equal time for completion. The original bill only dealt with limiting “uncompensated training burden on professional teachers.”

This bill mandates that the Louisiana Department of Education “maintain a list of each student instructional requirement” provided by law outside of the state content standards, including the law establishing the requirement as well as “the amount of time to provide the instruction each school year,” among other criteria.

HB 424: Grading Scale

HB 424, “Grading Scale,” moves Louisiana public schools back to a ten-point grading scale (which we exchanged for the seven-point grading scale effective 2013-14):

HB 940: Deferred Maintenance

The final bill on the list, HB 940, “Deferred Maintenance” (effective June 19, 2024), allocates up to $2B in bonds to help Louisiana colleges and universities catch up on the backlog of campus maintenenance. The bill also details a project approval process “to ensure their completion in an expeditious manner.”

Then maybe we don’t have the likes of this LSU embarrassment in the future:

That’s All, Folks.

There we have it: Eighteen bills, some better, some worse, and most of which are coming to a classroom near you in August 2024.

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