New Orleans’ only direct-run school is facing a deficit in its second year, and board members are debating whether to shut it down.
Now, local business leaders are asking officials to “make the hard decision” to close The Leah Chase School at the end of this school year.
In a letter sent Wednesday, the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region pointed to the school’s half-million-dollar shortfall due to low enrollment and to projections that place the school further in the red.
The nonpartisan council consists of more than 70 executives from local and regional companies.
“These are all dollars that should be put toward greater purposes to help more students systemwide, not for this one school,” the letter says.
The letter asks the school board to make the call soon so students can apply for open spots at other schools with priority status before early enrollment closes on Jan. 23.
Board members are scheduled to meet Thursday night to discuss the “feasibility and sustainability” of keeping Leah Chase open.
The school is underenrolled in a city where the population is declining, making it harder to fill seats. At the same time, federal, state and local funding is decreasing.
“We have a responsibility to weigh these external factors, be responsive to community demand — or lack thereof — for the school and be good stewards of taxpayer funds,” said Olin Parker, the board’s finance chair, in a text message.
Struggle to attract, retain students
Officials opened the school in the summer of 2023 after the district’s superintendent decided not to renew Lafayette Academy, a charter school that was in the Leah Chase building.
The district offered the program to other charter operators to take over, but no one applied.
Rather than offer the building to an existing school, the district and school board, under then-Superintendent Avis Williams, decided to open their own school — a significant step for the then-all-charter system.
A growing number of critics — including former state board of education member Leslie Jacobs — have since publicly questioned the district’s decision to open a school when the city’s school-age population is in decline, and many schools have empty seats.
Several charter operators have consolidated schools due to low enrollment in recent years, and more campus closures are planned for 2026.
The Leah Chase School was only a few students shy of its first-year enrollment goal of 300 kids in kindergarten through fifth grade, but it’s struggled since.
Nearly a third of those students transferred out at the end of the year. The school added a sixth-grade class this fall, but missed its overall target by nearly 60 students.
The board spent $3.8 million in district savings to open the school. Williams, one of the school’s champions, left abruptly just a few months after its opening, amid a district-level financial crisis. This fall, the school’s principal, Crystal LaFrance, also resigned.
Funding is tied to enrollment, and officials expect the school to run a roughly $500,000 deficit this year, which could triple over the next three years, according to projections.
Some board members, and the district’s new superintendent, Fateama Fulmore, have recently said they don’t believe the district should keep using dollars meant for all students to float a school that enrolls just a few hundred students.
“I personally don’t think it’s fiscally sound to continue doing this in the way in which we are,” Fulmore told the board last month.
If the board decides to keep Leah Chase open next school year, Fulmore told them she will need to lay off at least 15 central office employees and cut some district-wide programs to cover the anticipated shortfall.
Fulmore and board members have focused on new programming to attract families and increase enrollment. But that requires spending more money on the school, officials said.
The school has limited offerings this year, including no after-school sports.
Twenty-five new students have requested to attend Leah Chase next year so far, according to the district. Almost just as many plan to leave.
