Louisiana First in the Nation to Provide School Finder
Amy Fennell • November 7, 2017
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Louisiana Department of Education released a comprehensive online reporting system detailing how well child care centers and schools statewide are preparing students, birth through grade 12, for the next grade level and beyond. The interactive system, called the Louisiana School Finder, details the first-ever early childhood performance profiles and the annual school performance scores, among other information valuable to families. It is the first of its kind in the nation.
"It is a great step forward for our state to report on the good work going on in early childhood centers alongside their counterparts in K-12 systems," said State Superintendent John White. "This effort supports the most fundamental purpose of the state's rating system: to use the power of information to focus all involved on student learning. We encourage families, educators, business and community leaders, and partners to continue to engage in this new system and to inform its evolution. Our collective dialogue about education is grounded in a shared understanding of both successes of the past and challenges ahead."
LOUISIANA SCHOOL FINDER
The early childhood performance profiles and the K-12 school performance scores are reported this year through the new Louisiana School Finder, an interactive, comprehensive online reporting system. The Louisiana School Finder, unveiled today after more than a year of public discussion and planning, provides families with:
school performance scores and early childhood performance ratings to show how well schools and centers are preparing students for the next grade-level;
basic information about schools and centers such as their address, website, hours of operation, and principal or director's name; and
listings of course offerings, clubs, enrichment and extracurricular activities.
"The Louisiana School Finder will be a valuable tool available to parents, community members and those looking to locate information and data on success indicators on all schools," said Sonny Savoie, President of the Louisiana PTA. "This information will enable parents to make informed choices relative to the schools that will provide their children with the greatest opportunity for a successful education."
Week three of the Regular Session kept real estate issues in the conversation, even as lawmakers continued to focus heavily on workforce, tax and insurance policy. On the property tax front, measures to reshape assessments and exemptions, including proposals for a new blight rehabilitation exemption and additional relief for seniors, remain parked in the House Ways and Means Committee as stakeholders work through fiscal and local government concerns. These bills matter because they will influence long-term carrying costs, redevelopment incentives and how tax burdens are shared across residential and commercial property. Homestead related legislation, including parish level authority to increase the exemption amount, is also in the queue, signaling that the broader structure of Louisiana’s homestead system is officially on the table, not just the dollar figure. For homeowners and buyers, this debate goes directly to affordability. For local governments, it raises revenue stability and service delivery questions. There also has been movement on several identical pieces of legislation that would instruct parish assessors to develop a process for homeowners to permanently register for the homestead exemption for the duration that they own and live on the property. We are actively tracking legislation that will directly shape how investor activity and non-traditional transactions are recognized and regulated in Louisiana’s real estate market. This includes HB 468 by Troy Hebert , a key component of the Louisiana REALTORS® legislative package that targets the wholesale of residential real estate, which was heard in the House Commerce Committee on Monday. The bill is currently positioned for a floor vote early next week. As drafted, HB 468 represents a major step in the right direction for consumer protection in Louisiana, advancing needed guardrails through potential disclosure, registration, and practice standards that could redefine how assignment contracts and “off-market” transactions intersect with licensed brokerage activity. In parallel, HB 292 by Delisha Boyd passed the House on final reading, 86-3, and is on its way to the Senate. Together, these measures represent a coordinated policy effort to bring greater structure and transparency to emerging transaction models, while preserving the integrity of the traditional brokerage framework. Finally, the broader policy backdrop remains important: the Governor continues to push income tax changes and cost of living relief, while business and industry groups are prioritizing insurance, workforce and energy — each a key driver of long run housing demand and investment. As these debates evolve, we’ll keep you updated on what moves, what stalls and what it all means for your clients, your pipeline and private property rights across Louisiana. Please view the weekly bill tracking report provided by our lobbying team over at Harris, DeVille and Associates.
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NAR is pleased to share the latest consumer guide that explains the concept of home staging, offers DIY staging tips and missteps and shares the latest NAR member sentiment on how staging can help buyers better visualize the property as their future home and potentially net sellers a higher price. As a reminder, all guides in this series are available for download—in both English and Spanish—on facts.realtor . Please allow up to two weeks for the Spanish version of the latest resource to be translated and uploaded. For ease of reference, below is a list of the most recent guides: NEW: Staging Your House for a Sale Spotting Deepfake Scams in Real Estate Are You Ready to Invest in Real Estate? Thinking of Selling? 7 Factors to Consider How to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient Thank you for your continued engagement with the “Consumer Guide” series and for sharing the resources with prospective clients to ensure they have the information they need to find success in their home buying or selling journey. Remember that these guides are for informational purposes only and are not meant to enact or change any existing NAR policy. Be on the lookout for the next consumer guide, which discusses home mortgage options that allow buyers to fold in renovation costs.
