According to Article VIII of Louisiana's Constitution:
"Section 3.(A) Creation; Functions. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education is created as a body corporate. It shall supervise and control the public elementary and secondary schools and special schools under its jurisdiction and shall have budgetary responsibility for all funds appropriated or allocated by the state for those schools, all as provided by law."
Our understanding of this section is that BESE has authority over ONLY public schools.
Reading further within the same section:
BESE "shall have no control over the business affairs of a city, parish, or other local public school board or the selection or removal of its officers and employees; however, the board shall have the power to supervise, manage, and operate or provide for the supervision, management, and operation of a public elementary or secondary school which has been determined to be failing"
Our understanding of that part of Section 3 is that BESE does not even have the authority to butt into the business affairs of an individual PUBLIC school unless it has been deemed to be "failing."
Reading yet further in Section 3:
"The board shall have other powers, duties, and responsibilities as provided by this constitution or by law"
Our understanding is that any "other powers, duties, and responsibilities as provided by LAW" MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH THE CONSTITUTION and that this maxim is the rule for every law in our state.
To this point, the LA Supreme Court stated in its opinion regarding the unconstitutionality of the funding of vouchers through the MFP:
"Nevertheless, the constitution is the supreme law of this state to which all legislative instruments must yield. When a legislative instrument conflicts with a constitutional provision, the legislative instrument must fall."
Within this same opinion, the LA Supreme Court stated:
"Because the provisions of the Louisiana Constitution are not grants of power, but instead are limitations on the otherwise plenary power of the people of the state, exercised through the legislature, the legislature may enact any legislation that the constitution does not prohibit;" and,
"A constitutional limitation on the legislative power may be either express or implied."
"Section 4. UPON APPLICATION by a private elementary, secondary, or proprietary school with a sustained curriculum or specialized course of study of quality at least equal to that prescribed for similar public schools, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education shall approve the private school."
Our understanding from this section is that BESE has the authority to approve private schools IF AND WHEN they apply. We see nothing in our state's constitution that gives BESE the authority to require private schools to apply or to register.
Therefore, our understanding from the constitution is that BESE has no authority over private schools. They are simply mandated to approve a private school as having at least the same curriculum as a public school and only in the event that a private school requests such designation.
To that point, we refer to the LA Supreme Court's opinion in the case of the unconstitutional voucher funding:
"However, the assertion that voucher students remain public school students for purposes of Article VIII, Section 13(B) does not square with the law or the record. The record establishes that voucher students will physically attend a private school and that the state will directly pay the schools accepting vouchers."
"As commonly understood, the students of nonpublic schools are not students of 'parish and city school systems.' Nonpublic schools are not owned or operated by 'parish and city school systems,' as the state defendants themselves acknowledge. The reference in Ls. R.S. 17:4016 to 'scholarship recipient [being] a member of the local school system in which he attended or otherwise would be attending public school' does not change our analysis of what the phrase 'parish and city school systems' in Article VIII, Section 13(B)plainly means. Nor can that statute otherwise convert private school students into public school students for purposes of the Louisiana Constitution, because statutes 'exist within the bounds of the Constitution, not vice versa.'"
Based on our understanding from the LA Supreme Court and our LA Constitution, we believe the following about the ability of homeschoolers in our state to operate free of government regulation and oversight:
1. As commonly understood, homeschool students are not students of "parish and city school systems."
2. BESE has no more authority to regulate homeschools than it has to regulate private schools.
3. As with private schools, BESE simply may approve a homeschool as having at least the same curriculum as a public school and may do so only in the event that a Home School requests such designation.
The People, LLC encourages active homeschoolers and those considering homeschooling to study these issues and come to Your Own beliefs and understandings. Your children cannot afford for you to delegate those decisions to any other individuals or organizations.