State officials unveiled a new transparency website that shows financial information for Louisiana public and charter schools.

ACT 370 was authored by State Senator Rick Edmonds during the 2023 Regular Legislative Session. It  increases financial transparency in Louisiana K-12 public and charter school systems.

The law requires school governing authorities to provide specific financial information to the Louisiana Department of Treasury which will be housed on School Transparency Project Portal, located on the Louisiana Department of Treasury website. The site will allow citizens to compare school budgets in traditional public schools and public charter schools.

A link to the legislation can be found here.

Act 370 requires school systems to report financial information to the Louisiana Department of Treasury including detailed expenditure data about: purchase of goods and services for instruction, instructional support, legal services, audit services, general administration costs, construction, maintenance, transportation, information technology, professional services, technical services, land acquisition, supplies, and other costs.

School Systems are also required to report information to the Louisiana Department of Treasury on all contracts, including the identity of the vendor and purpose associated with each contract. Contract reporting will include award, award notices, fixed-price contracts, cost, cost-plus-a fixed-fee, or incentive type; contracts providing for the issuance of job or task orders; memoranda of understanding; cooperative endeavor agreements; and personal, professional, consulting, and social service contracts.