Louisiana unveiled a new website Wednesday that’s meant to give taxpayers a window into how public schools spend money.
Required by a 2023 law, the site offers financial information about each of the state’s school districts and charter schools, including vendor contracts, revenue sources, per-pupil spending, salaries of district employees and other data, which can be viewed online and downloaded. Users also can see how much each school district spends on instructional goods and services, maintenance, transportation, information technology, land acquisition, supplies and more.
Data from private schools that receive public funds is not included.
Schools were already required by law to report financial information to the state’s Department of Education. The new legislation requires that they also submit it to Louisiana's Department of Treasury, which has put it into the new searchable database.
For example, public schools spend an average of $15,400 per student, but the amount varies among districts and charter schools. About $2,200, or 14%, of that money comes from the federal government, the site says.
State Treasurer John Fleming said residents will be able to use the website as a resource to hold local schools accountable for their spending. He called it the most comprehensive website of its kind in the country.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant to fight inefficiency and waste,” Fleming told reporters Wednesday at the state capitol. “The more transparency we offer the people of Louisiana, the more efficient our state government will become.”
Act 370 requires school districts and charter school operators to provide financial information twice a year to the Louisiana Department of Treasury. As of Wednesday, 119 school systems and charters had submitted data.
“This is information that [districts] normally report to the department,” said First Assistant State Treasurer Rachel Kincaid, “but we visualized it so that you can search it.”
The website currently only offers data for public and charter schools. Fleming said future legislation could require private schools that receive state funds — including those that receive taxpayer money through Louisiana’s new LA GATOR program — to submit their own data.
He said the ultimate goal is to have every school in Louisiana that receives any public funding submit its spending information to the website.
"Certainly,” he said, “this is a good start.”
Flemming cautioned that because the site is still in its early stages, his department is still collecting data from schools and some information may be incomplete. He urged anyone who finds reporting errors to submit them to the state’s Department of Treasury.
Senator Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, who authored the original bill, said the website’s launch is a crucial step toward transparency.
“Our parents have an opportunity to see how a school system is spending their dollars,” he said. “I hope what that does is bring confidence in some of those systems.”