SPENO: 2019-2020

What is school governance?

Governance, or which entity oversees and holds schools accountable, has been one of the most notable and often contentious aspects of public education in New Orleans since 2005. Governance has assumed a place of importance in the city’s education landscape because of the growth of charter schools due to the state’s takeover of most city schools in 2005.

As mentioned in the introduction, governance of the city’s public charter schools was split between the state-run RSD and the OPSB for most of the past 15 years. In 2018, that changed, when state law required all formerly RSD schools in the city to come under OPSB governance.

As a result, in the 2019-2020 school year, 78 of the city’s 86 schools are overseen by the OPSB and NOLA-PS. It’s important to note, however, that all but three of these schools are independent public charter schools; NOLA-PS does not directly run any of the schools under its purview.

Additionally, there are seven charter schools located in the city overseen by the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) and one school governed by the Louisiana State Legislature. Students from anywhere in Louisiana can attend BESE schools, whereas students attending NOLA-PS schools must live in Orleans Parish. There are no for-profit charter schools in the city.

Why does governance matter?

Governance is an especially important issue when talking about public schools in New Orleans. Here, the governing body of a school matters with respect to accountability, both from an academic and a financial performance perspective, and in deciding which charter schools can open and operate. A charter school takes its name from the fact that the leaders of a school sign a contract, or charter, with a governing entity that delineates the terms that school must follow and the benchmarks it must meet in order to stay open. This is especially important because of the high number of charter schools in New Orleans. If a school fails to meet the standards in its charter contract, the governing entity can impose new requirements or, in extreme cases, shut the school down entirely. Last year, the OPSB authorized five new charter schools to open and closed seven.

This governance structure stands in contrast to most other school districts in the country (and to how the OPSB operated prior to 2005), where the central district office and elected school board oversee and operate local schools.

In New Orleans, it could be argued that the governing entity of a school matters less than the charter operator, as the charter operator has more control over the day-to-day decisions. In the city’s schools, the charter operators, whether overseen by the OPSB and NOLA-PS, BESE, or the Legislature, are in charge of staffing, curriculum, transportation, school calendars, and discipline. Charter schools and charter management organizations (CMOs) are also overseen by charter boards that are mainly tasked with:

• Ensuring the financial good standing of the school;
• Assessing the performance of school and CMO leadership;
• Confirming the school is meeting the requirements of its charter.

Thus, understanding governance in New Orleans schools is far more complicated than in most other U.S. cities. Families and stakeholders in New Orleans might engage with any of three layers of oversight — the charter board, the authorizing entity (OPSB/NOLA-PS, BESE, or the Legislature), or the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE).

You can see a chart of New Orleans public school governance in 2019-2020 by clicking here. To review governance charts from previous years, visit our website.