BESE asks LDOE to probe Orleans pre-K seat declines and orders financial report from Orleans Parish School Board

At a meeting of the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Board Administration and Education Finance Committee, members directed the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) to investigate declining LA 4 pre‑K seat requests in Orleans Parish and voted to send a detailed set of financial questions to the Orleans Parish School Board about a reported budget shortfall.

The board moved to have LDOE follow up on the decline in LA 4 seats after public comment and staff presentations showed Orleans had both declined and not requested seats that elsewhere in the state were being filled. A separate motion by BESE member Mr. Adam Appel (mover) directed BESE staff to forward ten written questions to responsible officials of the Orleans Parish School Board by April 10, and to require a response by April 30; the Department of Education was ordered to summarize responses and report to BESE by May 15. Both motions carried with no recorded objections.

Why it matters: LA 4 is the statewide pre‑K program that funds four‑year‑old seats. When seats that families might use are declined or not requested at the local level, those funded slots can be reallocated to other parishes; large declines or a recurring budget shortfall at the Orleans Parish School Board could affect program access and classroom resources for New Orleans children.

Caroline Romer, policy director at the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools (LAPCS), raised the pre‑K concern during public comment, citing what she said was a drop of 17 LA 4 seats in Orleans from the number currently served and broader reductions affecting charter schools that serve pre‑K. "I see there is an item in there related to the allocation of those seats to districts, to charter schools. And it's concerning to me to see when a district has lost seats," Romer said. Romer also told the board that LAPCS had alerted the Orleans Parish School Board in October 2024 about a budget shortfall she described as closer to $50,000,000 and said some local schools face large per‑student gaps.

Karen Powell, Deputy Assistant Superintendent for the Office of Early Childhood Care and Education at LDOE, described how the LA 4 allocation process works: community networks submit a coordinated funding request that identifies how many seats the network requests, and seats are allocated based on those requests. Powell said some Orleans seats were reduced because local networks either requested fewer seats or later declined preliminary allocations during coordination, and that Orleans (NOLA‑PS / the New Orleans Public Schools networks) had in recent years declined some seats. "There has been a reduction over the past several years of the seats awarded in Orleans based on lower asks," Powell said. She also told the board that LDOE tracks both seats not requested and seats that networks decline and that Orleans could regain seats in a future allocation cycle if local networks later report additional need.

Board members pressed for numbers and follow up. One board member summarized staff figures as a cumulative reduction of 234 LA 4 seats over time and asked LDOE to verify how many seats were actively declined by Orleans versus not requested. Powell said the department could provide both totals. The board voted to have LDOE return with more precise data and explanation, including outreach to the new Orleans superintendent and local networks to help fill seats if possible.

Separately, BESE members debated and then approved a motion from BESE member Mr. Adam Appel directing staff to request detailed fiscal information from the Orleans Parish School Board after media reports and public testimony about a large revenue shortfall. Appel read a ten‑item list of questions for the school board, asking for: the nature and value of the error or shortfall; how it escaped review; whether generally accepted accounting principles were used; remediation steps taken and planned; anticipated use and replenishment of rainy day funds; city obligations to the school board; impacts on schools and how those have been remediated; how any newly available funds would be allocated; whether the corrected budget implies reduced recurring revenues going forward; and the expected impact on school funding if recurring revenues are reduced. The motion asked that BESE staff forward the questions by April 10, that Orleans respond by April 30, and that the Department report its evaluation by May 15.

Department staff and public commenters characterized the Orleans situation variously as an accounting recognition error and as a symptom of longer‑term enrollment and revenue pressures. Caroline Romer told the board members she and LAPCS believe the shortfall is closer to $50 million and described errors in the local budgeting/calculation process; LDOE staff said some of the discrepancy reflected an overestimate of available revenue rather than the movement of funds to another account. Dr. Cade Brumley (identified in the meeting transcript as speaking for the department) said the U.S. Department of Education had also recently requested certification from states that no discriminatory activities were taking place; Brumley described how LDOE will notify local education agencies of the federal request and rely on local reporting already required under a 2024 legislative measure (as reported to BESE) in order to comply with the federal certification timeline.

Board members flagged possible downstream effects if the Orleans shortfall is recurring: reductions in recurring revenue would change future school budgets and could affect summer programs, classroom tutoring and longer‑term decisions about school consolidation or portfolios in New Orleans. Several members said they wanted transparent, documented answers from Orleans and the city so BESE and the public can understand both short‑term remediation plans and long‑term fiscal implications.

Next steps: LDOE agreed to provide the board with breakdowns showing seats requested, seats declined, and the total reduction; BESE staff will send the written questions to the Orleans Parish School Board and LDOE will compile answers and report back to BESE on or before May 15. No formal corrective action to the Orleans Parish School Board was taken at the meeting; BESE's action was to request information and to direct follow up.