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Committee asks BESE to study voting threshold for school-to-charter conversions
Summary
HR 251 requests the Department of Education (BESSIE) study and report on the voting threshold required for converting an existing public school to a charter. The measure followed testimony about Neville High School’s conversion process and questions over whether parent nonresponses should be counted as no votes.
Representative Echols introduced HR 251, asking the Department of Education (BESSIE) to study the voting threshold required for parental approval in conversions of existing public schools to charter schools.
Echols said the bill arose from a local case in the Neville High School attendance area where the statutory threshold — interpreted to require a majority of all enrolled students’ parents rather than a majority of returned ballots — posed a high barrier to conversion. Caroline Romer of Louisiana Charter Schools in Action testified the law’s language and practice are unclear, and she described the department’s effort to mail ballots with return envelopes and postage to all families to reduce barriers.
Romer and other charter advocates said the study should clarify whether nonreturned ballots count as no votes and standardize procedures for counting parent votes in conversion appeals to BESE. Representative Echols moved to report HR 251 favorably; the committee had no objections and advanced the request for study.
