La. Admin. Code tit. 28 § CXLV-502

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section CXLV-502 - Parent Petitions

A. Pursuant to R.S. 17:10.5, a public school that has received a letter grade of "D" or "F," or any variation thereof, for three consecutive years shall be removed from the jurisdiction of the city, parish, or local public school board, or other public entity and transferred to the jurisdiction of the recovery school district (RSD) if parents or legal guardians representing at least a majority of the students attending the school sign a petition requesting that the school be transferred to the RSD, and such transfer is approved by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, in accordance with the requirements and procedures below. The effective date of transfer to the RSD shall be July 1 following the approval of such transfer.

B. Pursuant to R.S. 17:10.5, a public school directly operated by the RSD that has received a letter grade of "D" or "F," or any variation thereof, for five consecutive years, and has not been identified for conversion to a charter school pursuant to a charter contract between BESE and a nonprofit charter organization, shall be transferred from the jurisdiction of the RSD to the jurisdiction of the local school board it was transferred from if parents or legal guardians representing at least a majority of the students who have been enrolled in the school for at least two years sign a petition requesting that the school be transferred to the local school board, and such transfer is approved by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and respective local school board, in accordance with the requirements and procedures below. The effective date of transfer shall be July 1 following the approval of such transfer.

C. Eligibility and Notification

1. The department shall make available on the LDE website information related to parent petitions, including, but not limited to, a list of schools eligible for the parent petition process, parent petition samples or forms, procedures and deadlines for completing and submitting parent petitions, and notification of receipt of parent petitions by the department.

2. On an annual basis, after completion of each year's state accountability assessment cycle, the department shall release a list of schools for which the department will accept parent petitions for that year's parent petition cycle.

a. Transfer to the RSD. A school eligible for transfer to the RSD pursuant to the parent petition process is any public school that is currently not under the jurisdiction of the RSD, nor under a memorandum of understanding with the RSD, and has received a letter grade of "D" or "F," or any variation thereof, for three or more consecutive years.

b. Transfer to the Local School Board. A school eligible for transfer to the local school board is any public school directly operated by the RSD that has not been identified for conversion to a charter school pursuant to a charter contract between the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and a nonprofit charter organization, and has received a letter grade of "D" or "F," or any variation thereof, for five consecutive years.

c. For the purposes of this Section:

i. a 2009 or 2010 baseline school performance score (SPS) of 60.0 to 79.9 will equate to a "D" letter grade;

ii. a 2009 or 2010 baseline school performance score (SPS) below 60.0 will equate to an "F" letter grade.

3. With the release of the list of eligible schools, the department shall release a standard parent petition and may provide an estimate of the minimum number of parent or legal guardian signatures required for each eligible school. The estimated minimum number of required parent or legal guardian signatures shall be based on the official student enrollment count from October 1 of the previous school year. In cases where there has been a significant change in the number of students attending the school since that time, for example, due to a change in grade configuration at the school, the estimate shall reflect these changes. The final minimum number of required parent or legal guardian signatures will be based on the official student enrollment count from October 1 of the current school year.

a. For schools transferring to RSD, the minimum number of required parent or legal guardian signatures will be 50 percent plus one signature of the total number of students attending the school.

b. For schools transferring to the local school board, the minimum required parent or legal guardian signatures will be 50 percent plus one signature of the number of students who have been enrolled in the school for at least two consecutive years.

D. Completing Parent Petitions

1. The standard parent petition released by the department shall be used to complete parent petitions for eligible schools. No other form or type of parent petition will be accepted by the department. Signatures may not be collected prior to the date of the annual release of the list of eligible schools by the department.

2. Parent petitions may only be signed by a parent or legal guardian of a student currently attending the eligible school.

3. Each student may be signed for by his parents or legal guardians only once on any given petition, such that each student equals one signature.

4. The standard parent petition may request the following information to be completed by parents or legal guardians of students:

a. printed name of student;

b. relationship of signatory to student;

c. grade level of student;

d. year(s) the student has attended the school;

e. printed name of signatory;

f. signature of parent or legal guardian;

g. date of signature;

h. parent or legal guardian contact information;

i. a consent statement for purposes of sharing the petition as a public record; and

j. the identification of "lead petitioners" to assist and facilitate communication between the parents and legal guardians who have signed the petition and the department; and

k. any other information deemed necessary by the department.

5. The standard petition shall also clearly state all rules and procedures for completing and submitting a parent petition.

E. Prohibited Practices

1. Parents or legal guardians shall be free from harassment, threats, and intimidation related to circulation of or signing a petition. No person shall knowingly, willfully, or intentionally:

a. intimidate, deceive, or misinform, directly or indirectly, any parent or legal guardian in matters concerning the circulation of or signing a petition;

b. intimidate a person by the use of violence, force, or threats with the intent to influence that person's decision to sign or not sign the parent petition, or to impede such person's ingress or egress from accessing the parent petition; or

c. without lawful authority, obstruct, hinder, or delay any parent or legal guardian on his way to or while returning home from any gathering or information session related to the circulation of or signing a parent petition, or while returning home from such place.

2. No person shall give or offer to give, directly or indirectly, any money, or anything of apparent present or prospective value to any parent or legal guardian with the intent to influence the parent or legal guardian in relation to the circulation or signing of a parent petition.

3. No person shall:

a. sign the parent petition, knowing that he is not qualified, or influence or attempt to influence another to sign the parent petition, knowing such person to be unqualified to sign or the signature to be fraudulent;

b. forge the signature of another or sign the parent petition using an assumed or fictitious name; or

c. forge, alter, add to, deface, take, destroy, or remove from any parent or legal guardian a parent petition that such parent or legal guardian is attempting to circulate or sign.

4. Any signature determined by the department to have been made as a result of prohibited practices may be deemed invalid.

5. Any person harassing, threatening, or intimidating parents or legal guardians related to the circulation of signing a parent petition may be subject to criminal prosecution under the laws of this state, including, but not limited to R.S. 14:122.1, 14:285, or 14:329.1.

6. Employees of any public school or school district, or members or employees of any city, parish, or local public school board, or other public entity governing a public school shall not utilize school or district resources to support or oppose any effort by petitioning parents or legal guardians to gather signatures and submit a petition.

F. Submission of Petitions

1. Petitions must be submitted to the department, in accordance with the processes and procedures specified by the department, no later than 90 calendar days following the release of the list of eligible schools and the standard petition by the department.

2. Petitioners may not submit a petition until they reach or exceed the final required minimum number of signatures specified by the department.

G. Review of Petitions

1. Upon timely receipt of a submitted parent petition, the department will review the petition to ensure that the petition has the minimum number of required signatures.

a. Only one signature per student will be counted.

b. Only original signatures will be counted. Photo-copied signatures will not be counted.

2. If the department finds that the number of valid signatures is fewer than the final minimum number of required signatures, parents or legal guardians shall have thirty calendar days, commencing with a date specified by the department, to resolve such discrepancies and collect the additional signatures.

3. Once the department has determined the parent petition has the minimum number of signatures required, the department shall post a notification on its website. The notification shall include information identifying the school that is the subject of the completed parent petition, procedures for requesting a copy of the parent petition through a public records request, and procedures and deadlines for challenging the validity of a signature on the parent petition. On the same day the notification is published online, the department shall also send this information, via certified mail, to the lead petitioners, the RSD superintendent, the local superintendent and the president of the city, parish, or local public school board, or other public entity governing the school which is the subject of the parent petition.

4. The department shall create a signature review and verification process that meets the following requirements.

a. The signatures on the parent petition will be assumed valid unless challenged or there is reasonable doubt of their validity.

b. The department's website will clearly explain the procedures for challenging the validity of a signature on the parent petition.

c. The department shall accept challenges to the validity of signatures on a parent petition at a minimum, for 15 business days after publishing the online notification of the completed parent petition. The department shall respond to all public records requests for copies of the parent petition within three business days of receipt of the request.

d. The department shall determine acceptable challenges to the validity of a signature as follows.

i. Acceptable challenges to the validity of a signature shall include, but not be limited to:

(a).(i). the student identified in the parent petition was not enrolled in the school on the date of the parent or legal guardian's signature;

(ii). the person signing the petition is not the identified student's parent or legal guardian;

(iii). the signature is a forgery;

(iv). the signature was made as a result of harassment, threat, or intimidation; or

(v). the signature was made in exchange for a gift of, or offer to give, directly or indirectly, any money, or anything of apparent present or prospective value;

(b). in addition, for a parent petition requesting transfer of the school to the local school board, an acceptable challenge is the claim that a student identified on the petition has not been enrolled in the school for a minimum of two consecutive years.

ii. Unacceptable challenges to the validity of a signature shall include, but not be limited to:

(a). incorrect dates on the parent petition;

(b). the name of student, parent, or legal guardian is misspelled or does not match student, parent, or legal guardian records on file at the school; or

(c). a parent or legal guardian wishes to revoke their valid signature.

e. Notwithstanding the above, signatures shall not be discounted over technicalities if the clear intent of the parent or legal guardian was to support the petition.

f. If validity is challenged or doubted for a number of signatures that, if invalidated, would bring the number of signatures on the parent petition below the majority required, the department shall review and verify the signatures within 45 calendar days.

g. The school and the city, parish, or other local public school board, or other public entity that is the subject of the parent petition shall provide assistance requested by the department for the purpose of verifying signatures.

5. The department shall maintain records regarding the contents and outcomes of the petition.

H. Outcome of Petitions

1. Transfers to the RSD

a. After the department has verified signatures, as necessary, and has determined that the number of valid signatures on the parent petition meets the minimum number of required signatures, authority is hereby delegated to the state superintendent to approve the transfer of the school to the jurisdiction of the RSD no later than March 31 preceding the effective date of the transfer. Approval of such transfer shall be reported to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) at the next scheduled BESE meeting.

b. The state superintendent shall approve transfers to the recovery school district under this Section for all parent petitions that have been completed successfully and appropriately, in accordance with the policies and procedures in this Section, subject to the capacity of the RSD and availability of funds and resources necessary to complete the transfer and manage or oversee the operation of the school, as determined by the state superintendent.

c. BESE reserves the right to limit the number of schools that may be approved by the state superintendent each year for transfer to the RSD under this Section.

2. Transfers to the Local School Board

a. After the department has verified signatures, as necessary, and has determined that the number of valid signatures on the parent petition meets the minimum number of required signatures, and given written notice of this determination to the local school board, the local school board shall consider the approval of the transfer of the school back to the local school board.

b. Upon the local school board's approval of the transfer, the local school board shall present the parent petition to BESE for approval no later than March 31 preceding the effective date of the transfer. BESE shall consider the parent petition at the next scheduled BESE meeting.

3. The department shall provide notice of the approval of the transfer to the RSD or local school board by posting on the department's website, sending written notice via certified mail to the RSD superintendent, the city, parish, or local school board, or other public entity from which the school shall be transferred, and contacting the lead petitioners identified on the parent petition. The date of such notification on the department's website shall serve as the date the transfer to the RSD or local school board is officially approved.

4. For each parent petition received by the department, the state superintendent shall submit a written report to BESE which shall include, at a minimum, the following:

a. dates the petition was received by the department;

b. number of total signatures on the parent petition;

c. number of valid signatures on the parent petition;

d.

i. summary of the department's signature verification process;

ii. specific actions taken by the department in response to challenges made to signatures on the petition, as applicable; and

iii. whether the state superintendent approved the transfer of the school to the jurisdiction of the RSD or the local school board approved the transfer of the school to the jurisdiction of the local school board.

5. The president of BESE may appoint a subcommittee of BESE members to serve in an advisory capacity and review the parent petition and report to ensure that the petition was completed successfully and that the procedures outlined in this Section have been properly followed. The membership of the subcommittee shall include the BESE member representing the district in which the school that is the subject of the parent petition is located.

I. Transfer to the Recovery School District

1. A school transferred to the jurisdiction of the RSD pursuant to this Section may be directly operated by the RSD or operated as a type 5 charter school by an approved charter operator.

2. Upon transfer of a school to the RSD under this Section, the RSD shall engage in community outreach with parents, legal guardians, and members of the community in which the school is located to consult regarding school model and other operational decisions.

J. Transfer to the Local School Board

1. A school transferred to the jurisdiction of the local school board pursuant to this Section may be directly operated by the local school board or by a district authorized charter operator.

2. Upon transfer of a school to the local school board under this Section, the local school board shall engage in community outreach with parents, legal guardians, and members of the community in which the school is located to consult regarding school model and other operational decisions.

K. Student Enrollment

1. The city, parish, local public school board, or other public entity from which a school is transferred to the RSD under this Section shall create enrollment policies allowing students who choose not to remain enrolled at the school as a result of the school's transfer to the RSD to transfer to another school operated by the city, parish, local public school board, or other public entity.

2. The local school board shall permit any student attending a school that has been approved to be transferred back to the local school board to remain enrolled at that school upon transfer.

3. A school transferred to the RSD or back to the local school board pursuant to this Section shall maintain open enrollment policies and shall not impose student admission requirements.

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CXLV-502

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 38:3121 (December 2012), amended, LR 39:3252 (December 2013).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17.7 and R.S. 17.10.5.