Recovery School District - History

History

During the 2003 Regular Legislative Session, the Louisiana Legislature passed Act 9 to create the Recovery School District (RSD) to take over the operations of failing schools, defined as schools that do not meet the minimum academic standards for at least four consecutive years. The legislation was signed into law in May of that year by Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco.

Pierre Capdau School in New Orleans became the state's first takeover school in 2004, and subsequently became Louisiana's first RSD charter school, known as a Type 5 charter school. In August 2004, the school opened as Pierre Capdau-UNO Charter School under the management of the New Beginnings Foundation and the University of New Orleans. In the spring of 2005, four additional New Orleans schools were taken over by the state, and turned over to charter school operators.

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005, bringing near total devastation to the city and damaging or destroying more than 100 of the city's 128 school buildings. In the face of uncertainties about the future of schools in the city, the Louisiana Legislature acted by passing Act 35, legislation that transferred 107 worst-performing public schools to the RSD. Act 35 allowed for state intervention in school districts in academic crisis, providing for state takeover of schools that were performing below the state average.

Most of the schools taken into the RSD have been chartered.

More recently, additional schools in other parishes in the state have been placed in the RSD.