Louisiana parents enroll students in unapproved schools, purchase diplomas

(NewsNation) — Enrollment in unapproved schools in Louisiana has skyrocketed over the last five years, where parents can essentially purchase a high school diploma for their student for around $500 without them having to attend classes or pass any exams.

Unlike public schools, formal homeschooling programs or traditional private schools, nearly 9,000 private schools in Louisiana don’t need state approval to grant degrees.

Nearly every one of those unapproved schools was created to serve a single homeschooling family, but some have buildings, classrooms, teachers and dozens of students.

More than 21,000 students are now enrolled in these unapproved schools — that is nearly twice the number since before the pandemic, according to the Associated Press.

U.S. public school enrollment fell by more than 1.2 million students in the first two years of the pandemic. Many switched to private schools or told their state they were homeschooling. Thousands of others could not be accounted for at all, according to an analysis from The Associated Press and its partners.

Supporters of this type of education argue they purposely avoid state oversight because they believe in parents’ rights.

NewsNation reached out to one of these unapproved schools, yet did not receive a statement because the principal, Kitty Sibley Morrison, who runs the school, said she is in tutoring sessions from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. According to the Associated Press, Sibley Morrison said she is not selling diplomas, but rather lifetime services for homeschooling families.

Yet a list of prices is taped to the front window of the school building: $250 for diploma services, a $50 application fee, $35 for a diploma cover and $130 to walk in a cap and gown at a ceremony.

“The only thing you have to do to create one of these unapproved schools is simply create the name of a school and say how many students are enrolled. There’s no oversight beyond that,” said Samantha Field, a government relations director for the Coalition for Responsible Home Education. “The state of Louisiana does not create accountability or criterion, they do not administer tests and are not required to perform assessments of any kind. There’s no regulation, there’s no oversight.”

The Louisiana Department of Education said it cannot confirm whether unapproved schools meet the legal definition of a school:

“Louisiana understands that the parent is in the driver’s seat of their child’s education. Non-public schools not seeking state approval have been an education option since our constitutional convention in 1974.”

Louisiana’s unapproved private schools came into being in 1980 when Christian ministers who ran small private schools joined forces with the budding homeschool movement to push for the deregulation of private education.

Opponents have tried on multiple occasions to get the law repealed but faltered in the face of lobbying efforts from Christian homeschool groups.

Today, over a dozen states allow families to open a private school as a form of homeschooling, including California, Illinois and Texas, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association. Around half the states require those schools to teach basic subjects such as math and reading; Louisiana isn’t one of them.

As for the diplomas, legal experts told NewsNation that if students didn’t put in the work and earn that degree, then it’s just a meaningless piece of paper.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.