NOLA Public Schools has led a dramatic increase in the number of students meeting academic proficiency standards, and the performance gap between students in Orleans Parish and Louisiana as a whole dramatically decreased between 2005-2019. The impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic hit urban districts particularly hard, and New Orleans was no exception. Despite this, the district has had amongst the highest levels of improvement in the state of Louisiana since the pandemic.
Every student in New Orleans deserves equal access to high quality schools where their interests will come first, where they and their families will have choice, and where educators will have the tools and support they need to be successful. Please view the Profile At-a-Glance for Charter Applicants for more information on the district.
The NOLA Public Schools Request For Applications began on September 6, 2024 and a detailed timeline is provided below. If you are interested in applying after the deadline for applications has passed, you may use the materials and information from previous charter cycles below as a reference, however, please note that the application may be updated annually, and thus there may be changes to the upcoming cycle's application in comparison with the previous year's application.
District Authorizing Priorities
The Orleans Parish School Board regularly adopts a set of district authorizing priorities to guide its charter authorization process. These priorities outline what the district seeks in operators to expand high-quality options for families. Setting clear District Authorizing Priorities informs recruitment strategies for new operators and expansion of existing operators; provides transparency in the charter application process of the district’s objectives; and informs the Superintendent’s decision to approve new schools.
Please note the following section from the District Authorizing Priorities (entire document is linked below):
NOLA Public Schools is committed to the optimization of the district. This means that by making strategic portfolio decisions families have high-quality options, schools have the funding they need for improved programming and teacher salaries, and buildings are of the highest quality and are being fully utilized. As such, the district is seeking to have a strong bench of operators available to transform a school, should the need arise. While the district does not anticipate newly approved charter applicants opening new schools in the near future, applicants for new schools are welcome to apply.
District Authorizing Priorities
Fall 2024 RFA Cycle
Applicant information sessions this coming week!
NOLA Public Schools is now accepting applications from organizations interested in applying for a charter school. If you’ve ever been interested in learning about what it takes to apply for a charter school, we will be hosting two informational sessions for interested applicants on Friday, September 13th at 9:00AM and Tuesday, September 17th at 3:00PM (rescheduled from September 11). The Zoom link to each informational session is connected to the session's date and time.
In compliance with R.S. 17:3982, the Orleans Parish School Board is making public through our website and in printed form upon request, the guidelines for submitting a charter proposal, all forms required for submission of a charter proposal, the timelines established for accepting and reviewing charter proposals, the process that will be used to review charter proposals submitted to the board, and the name and contact information for a primary point of contact for charter proposals. These are the resources from 2023. The 2024 resources will be updated once available. NOLA Public Schools Profile At-a-Glance, 2023 Charter RFA Applicant Training Deck, 2023 and Recording of Charter RFA Applicant Info Session Louisiana Department of Education's Charter Applicant Toolbox
Any organization or individual may become eligible to submit an application by meeting specific eligibility requirements as outlined in the Eligibility Determination document and submitting a Letter of Intent. In order to be eligible to submit a full application in the NOLA Public Schools' Fall 2024 Charter Request for Applications process all Eligibility Determination and Letter of Intent are due to charterapp@nolapublicschools.com by October 15, 2024 at 12PM CST.
Application materials are below. If you have any questions please contact Anne-Lise McCarver at amccarver@nolapublicschools.com.
The documents linked below are needed to complete a charter application. They are attached in Word to make it easier for applicants to copy the questions into their own documents, but applicants are required to submit their documents via PDF, except for the Overview Template.
The Eligibility Documentation, which includes the directions for what to include in the Letter of Intent, is due by October 15, 2024 by 12:00PM Central Time.
The full application is due by October 25, 2024 by 12:00PM Central Time. Those materials are below:
Additional Resources:
Fall 2023 RFA Cycle
The PDFs linked below allow applicants to see all of the questions they may encounter in the Edlusion portal. NOLA Public Schools Profile At-a-Glance, 2023 Charter RFA Applicant Training Deck, 2023 and Recording of Charter RFA Applicant Info Session Louisiana Department of Education's Charter Applicant Toolbox
2023 New Operator Charter Application
2023 Experienced Operator Charter Application
2023 Updated Overview Template - All applicant groups must complete this document and submit along with the rest of the group's application materials.
Additional Resources:
Fall 2023 Submitted Eligible Applications
Engaged Learning Academies of Louisiana
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Initial Memo
Final Memo from Independent Evaluator
ReNEW - Reinventing Education
Fall 2022 RFA Cycle
Charter RFA Applicant Training
Eligibility Determination
Letter of Intent
Edlusion Portal
No applications were submitted during the Fall 2022 cycle.
Spring 2022 RFA Cycle
Eligibility Determination
Letter of Intent
Edlusion Application Portal
Overview Template-All applicant groups must complete this document and submit along with the rest of the group's application materials.
New Operator Application PDF
Experienced Operator Application PDF
Virtual School Operator Application PDF
Spring 2022 Submitted Applications
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Initial Memo
Factual Clarification Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Factual Clarification Memo
Final Recommendation from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Final Recommendation
Empowerment Education Corporation of New Orleans (Withdrew application April 7, 2022)
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Initial Memo
Factual Clarification Memo from Independent Evaluator
Final Recommendation from Independent Evaluator
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Factual Clarification Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Factual Clarification Memo
Spring 2021 RFA Cycle
For information on the Spring 2021 RFA Cycle, please review this presentation. Letter of Intent
School Development Overview - 2021
Eligibility Determination
Edlusion Application Portal
Spring 2021 Charter Application
Spring 2021 RFA Evaluation Standards
Louisiana Department of Education Evaluation Standards
Spring 2021 Submitted Applications
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Initial Memo
Factual Correction Memo from Independent Evaluator
Final Recommendation from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Final Recommendation
Algiers Charter School Application (ACSA-4) (Withdrew application June 9, 2021)
Factual Correction Memo from Independent Evaluator
Final Recommendation from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Final Recommendation
Algiers Charter School Application (ACSA-NOLA-3) (Withdrew application June 9, 2021)
Factual Correction Memo from Independent Evaluator
Final Recommendation from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Final Recommendation
Algiers Charter School Application (ACSA-NOLA-4) (Withdrew application June 9, 2021)
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Factual Correction Memo from Independent Evaluator
Final Recommendation from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Final Recommendation
The Seed Sowing Group (Withdrew application April 26, 2021)
Spring 2020 RFA Cycle
Charter Applicant Eligibility Form Supplemental Materials:
Applicants who have approved Letters of Intent and Eligibility Documentation have been provided a link to the application on the EdLusion Portal.
Sample Letter of Intent
Spring 2020 Charter RFA Full Application
Spring 2020 RFA Evaluation Rubric and Evaluation Information
Spring 2020 Submitted Applications
Application (Without Attachments)
Attachments (Zipped)
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Initial Memo
Factual Clarification Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Factual Clarification Memo
Final Recommendation Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Final Recommendation Memo
Generation Success
Application (Without Attachments)
Attachments (Zipped)
Initial Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Initial Memo
Factual Clarification Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Factual Clarification Memo
Final Recommendation Memo from Independent Evaluator
Applicant Response to Final Recommendation Memo
Past RFA Cycles
Additional Cycles can be found in our archive website: previous.opsb.us – for additional information please consider filing a public records request.
Start a Charter School
The Fall 2024 charter application cycle has opened. The Letter of Intent and Eligibility Determination are due by October 15, 2024. The full application is due by October 25, 2024. Resources from prior application cycles are available further down on this page.
District Primary Contact
For any questions regarding opening a charter school in New Orleans, and/or the application process, please contact Anne-Lise McCarver, Executive Director of Portfolio Innovation, at amccarver@nolapublicschools.com or 504-359-9584.
