Louisiana school visitor management law

What does the Louisiana law require?

No one may go on public school grounds or into a public school building as a visitor during school hours without authority from the appropriate school official. Every public school governing authority must adopt written rules, regulations and procedures for granting visitors that authority. Those procedures must also cover telling visitors about the rules. An unauthorized visitor faces a fine of up to $250, up to 30 days in jail, or both. Parents, guardians, or people they authorize who are dropping off or picking up a student at the start or end of the school day are not visitors under this rule.

What about classroom doors?

Each school emergency operations plan must provide that classroom doors are locked and secured to prevent entry while students are in the room, with exceptions. If the door is open for any other reason, an authorized person must actively staff it, standing or seated at the door. The definition of "locked and secured" rules out obstacles that would keep the door's locking mechanism from working. Classroom doors with locks must meet further requirements set out in the law. Each public school principal must prepare the plan jointly with local law enforcement and other officials.

Who is covered?

The visitor rules cover public elementary and secondary schools. Charter schools remain bound by the emergency operations plan law that holds the classroom door rule. Public school districts, nonpublic schools and charter schools may obtain a physical security assessment.

When did the new rules take effect?

Act 821 (HB 624), the classroom door rule, took effect August 1, 2026. The state's codified law page still shows the older wording, that classroom doors with locks "shall remain locked during instructional time"; Act 821 replaced it. Act 901 (SB 450), the security assessment law, also took effect August 1, 2026.

What do the security assessments involve?

Assessments must include Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, meaning buildings and grounds designed to discourage crime. The upgrades an assessment identifies are nonbinding options, and no school is required to carry them out. The law treats assessment information as a confidential and privileged communication.