Baton Rouge, La. — In a special called meeting yesterday, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) considered policies around Louisiana’s new career diploma. The state education board voted to establish policies around student eligibility for the 2009-2010 school year as well as components for required dropout prevention programs, but tabled other policy decisions until September.

The new law, which was signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal on July 2nd, was intensely debated during the 2009 legislative session. And now, just a few weeks before most school districts commence their 2009-2010 school year, the education community is working to accommodate districts and students who may want to exercise this option for the community school year.

“Our goal of the Department over the last several weeks, and even before the legislation officially became law, has been to study the issues and make recommendations around the policies that need to be determined prior to the implementation of this new diploma in the upcoming school year,” State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek said. “The reality is that there are some very important decisions we need to consider. We want to ensure that in our effort to begin this program this year, we don’t misstep and jeopardize the effectiveness and intent of this legislation in the interest of time. We look forward to working with stakeholder groups to collectively develop recommendations around the best interest of children.”

The new law requires each district to develop and offer at least one career diploma major, although the statute does permit districts to seek a waiver from BESE for this requirement. And while the legislation outlines very specific requirements for students and districts, it does call on BESE to establish policies for the following components of the career diploma:

• eligibility requirements for students who have not met promotional standards on the 8th grade LEAP (includes attendance standards and behavior standards)
• approval of district proposed dropout prevention and mentoring programs (required for students during their first year in high school if they failed to meet 8th grade promotional standards on LEAP)
• approval of course, curriculum and assessment requirements for proposed career majors

BESE’s decision today was to refer eligibility requirements around behavior and attendance standards to the local districts for the upcoming school year. However, existing policy requires district requirements to be in compliance with the state’s current standards. In the case of school attendance, elementary school students are required to attend at least 160 days per year, and high school students are required to attend at least 162 days per year.

BESE postponed adopting eligibility requirements for subsequent years until the September BESE meeting in an effort to give the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) the opportunity to collaborate with key stakeholders prior to making permanent policy decisions. The board directed the Department to meet with the Parish Superintendent’s Advisory Council (PSAC), the Special Education Advisory Council and a Special Career Diploma Commission to be assembled by State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek. At that time, BESE will also take up other policy issues around the Career Diploma, including coursework, curriculum and assessment requirements.

Today, BESE also approved LDOE’s recommendations that outline acceptable programs and components for dropout prevention and mentoring programs that districts must provide to students as a requisite of the law. In addition, while the law calls for students to have written permission from a parent or legal guardian before they can enroll under the new option, the Department recommended, and BESE voted to support a policy requiring the school principal to also sign the form stating that a determination has been made that the pursuit of a career diploma is appropriate and in the best interest of the student.

So far, 19 districts have sought a waiver from the requirement to offer students the career diploma for the 2009-2010 school year. More waiver requests may follow and will be presented at the August BESE meeting, but yesterday BESE approved waivers for the following districts:

1. Acadia
2. Allen
3. Ascension
4. Beauregard
5. Catahoula
6. Claiborne
7. Concordia
8. East Carroll
9. Jefferson
10. Jefferson Davis
11. Orleans
12. St. Charles
13. St. James
14. St. John the Baptist
15. Washington
16. City of Bogalusa
17. Recovery School District
18. West Feliciana
19. West Baton Rouge

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