SPENO: 2019-2020

How do students get to and from school?

One of the unique aspects of public education in New Orleans is the open enrollment policy. This policy allows students to attend almost any school in the city, regardless of where they live. In most school districts in the U.S., public school students attend the school closest to their home. The open enrollment policy has been in place in New Orleans for over a decade and aims to remove geographic barriers to educational opportunities.

In Louisiana, there are no standard requirements for the transportation of students to and from school. State law does, however, require that public school districts provide transportation for students who live beyond one mile from their school. Federal law also requires that transportation must be provided for all students with a documented disability — even if that means providing individualized transportation.

In New Orleans, NOLA-PS requires all of its schools to provide students with either free direct transportation or public transportation vouchers. Public transportation is only an option for schools serving students in Grade 7 and above; elementary schools must provide free transportation by an approved vehicle (generally a yellow bus). BESE-authorized schools in the city are also required to provide free transportation for students that can include buses, shuttles, or public transportation passes.

The city’s open enrollment policy does contribute in part to higher per pupil transportation costs for schools in New Orleans as compared to those elsewhere in Louisiana. Taken together, schools in New Orleans spent an average of $901 per pupil on transportation, compared to the state average of $718.

How are schools funded in New Orleans?

In New Orleans, as is true for the rest of the U.S., K-12 public education funding comes from a combination of federal, state, and local allocations. Local and state tax dollars are by far the largest source of funding for public education across the country.

As of 2015, in Louisiana, 44% of all K-12 education funding came from state tax dollars, 43% from local tax dollars, and 13% from federal grants. Federal grants are usually administered through the LDOE, which then distributes the funds directly to schools and local education agencies (LEAs). The LDOE distributes state and local funding through the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), a funding formula that determines how much funding districts and schools receive based on a per-pupil basis.

The MFP factors in student enrollment in a school or district, as well as student demographics such as family income, and English Language Learners (ELL), Gifted & Talented, and Special Needs status. Across the state and in New Orleans, charter schools, like traditional districts, are also able to raise additional philanthropic dollars through donations and grants. As shown below, schools in New Orleans have higher than average per pupil expenditures than Louisiana schools as a whole.

Differentiated Funding

Beginning in 2016, schools in New Orleans under the governance of the OPSB also use differentiated funding, a student-based allocation formula. This funding model is designed to provide schools serving a higher percentage of exceptional need students with more funding to support the costs of their education. Under the formula, schools receive weighted funding on a per-pupil basis for serving Special Education, Gifted and Talented, ELL, and Over-age Students. The formula takes into account the severity of the disability of the needs of special education students, allocating funding to schools through five tiers based on the type of exceptionality of the students and the service minutes necessary to educate them. The use of the formula does not mean NOLA-PS schools receive more money. Rather, it is a way to distribute the existing funds more equitably. The formula also received a phase-in period in which no school received less than 98% of the funds it had in the past, so as to protect schools serving fewer special education students from sudden funding cuts.

Last year, NOLA-PS Superintendent Henderson Lewis and the OPSB approved revisions to the city’s differentiated funding formula that will go into effect next year. The revised formula will provide additional funding for schools educating students at high risk of dropping out, as well as directing more funding to schools for Gifted and Talented and ELL students.