Original Research by School Decision on Southwest Louisiana Charter Academy
Southwest Louisiana Charter Academy is a single-campus district in Calcasieu Parish serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Because it does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate, and because its grade band includes the state-tested years, the absence of state assessment results is notable; a parent may want to ask the school directly about its academic performance data, which was not available in this set.
The school enrolls roughly 850 students, making it a mid-sized school for a PK-8 configuration. The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic share, a small white enrollment, and very small Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and multiracial populations. This composition sets it apart from most of its parish's other districts. The school's free or reduced-price lunch share was not reported, and data on students with disabilities and English learners was also absent, leaving gaps in the picture of student support needs.
Compared with Calcasieu Parish's other districts, Southwest Louisiana Charter Academy's chronic absenteeism rate sits above the midpoint, meaning a higher share of students miss substantial class time than in some of its neighbors. On per-pupil current spending, the school falls in the middle range of the county's three districts, in the lower half of that group. Those comparisons come from a very small cohort of just three countywide districts, so differences are slight.
The school's enrollment is spread across all grades from PK through 8, with the largest numbers in kindergarten, first grade, and eighth grade, and the smallest in pre-kindergarten and fourth through sixth grades. This suggests a steady pipeline from early elementary into the upper grades. The school operates as a charter academy under Louisiana's public school system; while its charter status is listed as null in the data, its name and type indicate it is a charter entity, which means it has its own governing board and is held to the terms of its charter contract.
No recent district-level changes were found after a search of public records that would meet a four-year lasting-impact bar. The district did not return information on program offerings, course access, discipline rates, staffing ratios, or attendance patterns beyond the chronic absenteeism figure. A parent considering this school would likely want to visit and ask about the curriculum, the school's academic track record, and the specific support structures in place for the student population it serves.
The school is the only campus in its district, with the same name and a single location. That means there is no feeder pattern within the district, and students who continue into high school must enroll elsewhere, likely in their home parish district or another school of choice. The absence of state testing data means a parent cannot compare proficiency directly with parish schools, so this school may appeal most to families already engaged with its specific mission or approach, or those willing to investigate performance through other means.
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