Louisiana Sets Stage for Better Accessibility for Disabled Students

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Last Updated: May 13, 2026

Tags: Education, Featured Special Project, Local, National

Image of the Louisiana State Capitol building, which is white with a tower in the middle.

It’s no secret that the federal education system is in less-than-ideal shape when it comes to support for Disabled students. The Trump Administration is in the midst of dismantling a Department of Education led by a person best known as a professional wrestling personality, graduation rates for Disabled students continue to lag woefully behind non-Disabled peers, and those in charge of federal enforcement of accessibility legislation face looming job losses.

One of the states that has historically struggled with Disabled student graduation rates is Louisiana. Despite having one of nation’s lowest rates of Disabled students, as defined by the IDEA, a National Center for Learning Disabilities report found that Disabled students’ graduation rates fell 22% behind the national average and 18% behind the state’s average in their latest data in 2022.

There has been longstanding opposition to the way the state has chosen to approach Disabled students. Recently, a judge removed a New Orleans-area charter schools and the state’s department of education from third-party yearly review by a judge after 11 years. The original suit that led to this monitoring was brought by parents of Disabled students. Now, a bipartisan bill making its way through the Louisiana Legislature aims to improve education outcomes for the state’s Disabled students. 

As reported by a number of outlets, including the LSU Manship School News Service, April saw 98 of the 103 representatives in the state’s House vote in favor of a bill, HB 342, that would require local educational bodies to show their reasoning in disputes over whether a student is properly accommodated rather than that burden falling on families. According to data from the Louisiana Department of Education, only approximately 21% of complaints were resolved when it came to Disabled student disputes. 

The bill is now under consideration in the Senate’s committee on education. 

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