The vision of the Louisiana Department of Education is to create a world-class system of education in Louisiana.  Our mission is to improve academic achievement, close the achievement gap between race and class, and to prepare students to be competitive in a global market.

The intention of the Charter School Demonstration Programs Law is to authorize the creation of innovative kinds of independent public charter schools. Further, it is the intention of the legislature to provide the framework for such experimentation by the creation of such schools, a means for all persons with valid ideas and motivation to participate in the experiment, and a mechanism by which experiment results can be analyzed, the positive results repeated or replicated, if appropriate, and the negative results identified and eliminated.

Public Schools
Charter schools are independently-operated public schools.  They are publicly funded and open to all students who wish to attend.  They do not charge any fees for admission, and they cannot discriminate when making enrollment or admissions decisions.

Accountability
Public charter schools in Louisiana are subject to stringent accountability requirements.  They are required to provide appropriate curricula and aligned professional standards and support for all students (including disabled students).  Public charter schools are required to administer all state standardized tests and make improvements in student performance over the term of their charter contracts.  A charter school that fails to meet minimum student performance targets may be closed.

Additionally, a public charter school is accountable to its customers – the students and their families.  If families are not satisfied with the quality of education provided, they can withdraw their students from the school and take their funding with them to another school.

Autonomy
Public charter schools are free from many of the laws and regulations governing traditional public schools, which allow them significant flexibility in allocating resources, managing time, and in all other aspects of operating the school.  In return for this autonomy, they are held accountable for student achievement and other results.  

Choice
Another basic belief inherent in public charter schools is that parents, students, and teachers would be more likely to achieve success when they choose where they go to school or where they work.  For parents and students, this allows them to choose schools that more appropriately met the needs of children.  For educators, choice means the ability to choose the work environment where they are most comfortable and where they believe they can be most effective.  No one is assigned to a public charter school.

Competition
Competition is essential to revitalizing public education.  Charter schools promote healthy competition between schools.  Proponents of public charter schools want their schools to be successful and for that success to translate into improvements and innovations in traditional public schools.
Because charter school funding follows the child, traditional public schools and public charter schools compete to attract and retain students and the most effective educators.  A school that is not successful cannot compete.

• Louisiana Charter School Law allows five types of public charter schools:

  Type 1 – Charter with local school board (new start-up)
  Type 2 - Charter with BESE (new start-up or conversion)
  Type 3 - Charter with local school board (conversion)
  Type 4 – Local School Board Charter with BESE (new start-up or conversion)
  Type 5 - Charter with BESE (pre-existing public school or new school in New Orleans under the jurisdiction of the RSD)

• In the 2008-09 school year, 65 charter schools are operational statewide, educating more than 27,000 students.