What actually gates ESA money in Louisiana: BESE approval and LA GATOR

The gate: BESE approval including Brumfield compliance, then the LA GATOR nonpublic school application

What the rules actually say

“remain in compliance with the criteria set forth in Brumfield, et al.”

— La. Admin. Code tit. 28, §CLIII-1515 — Nonpublic Schools Eligibility

“If a nonpublic school is expected to receive more than $100,000 of account funds in a school year, the nonpublic school must meet at least one of the following additional criteria annually to participate in the program:”

— La. Admin. Code tit. 28, §CLIII-1515 — Nonpublic Schools Eligibility

LA GATOR is the scholarship program through which those funds reach approved schools. (Louisiana Department of Education — LA GATOR Scholarship Program)

The sequence, in order

1. Form the entity and get an EIN. The school needs to be its own entity with its own bank account before anything else works.

2. Establish yourself as a Louisiana nonpublic school. This is the status everything else is built on.

3. Get BESE approval, including Brumfield compliance. This is the gate. The first gate. Louisiana requires participating nonpublic schools to comply with the criteria set out in the Brumfield litigation.

4. Clear staff background checks and fingerprinting. For everyone working with children.

5. Meet the financial requirement if you cross the threshold. Above $100,000 of account funds in a school year, an additional annual criterion applies. Know which one you will satisfy before you are near the line, not after.

6. Submit the LA GATOR nonpublic school application. This is the gate. The second gate, and the one that connects you to the money.

7. Register on Odyssey and set up payment. So approved families can actually pay you.

Where founders actually stall

Founders routinely treat the $100,000 threshold as a future problem. It is not: which criterion you will satisfy affects how you set up bookkeeping from day one, and retrofitting financial controls in year two is far harder than choosing them in year zero.

What we have not verified

Which of the additional criteria is easiest for a small new school to satisfy. The regulation lists alternatives; we have not tested which is least burdensome in practice, so read the list yourself and take advice before committing.

We would rather say this than guess. Everything above that is stated as fact carries a link to the primary source, so you can check us.

Sources

Get set up in Louisiana

Louisiana puts a state approval step in front of the money, so setup here takes more work than in a state without that gate. Both options are one-time. We never take a cut of your tuition.

Launch Kit · $1,450. Your Louisiana playbook: every step in the right order, the document each one needs, and the operator tools (roster, attendance, tuition billing, evidence vault). You do the filing.

Get the Launch Kit · $1,450

Concierge · $2,950. Everything in the Launch Kit, plus we do the ESA-vendor registration with you in a working session, inside Louisiana’s own platform.

Get Concierge · $2,950

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