Original Research by School Decision on Dr Martin Luther King Charter School for Sci Tech
Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School for Sci Tech operates as a single-school district serving grades PK through 12 in New Orleans. The enrollment is moderately sized for a school spanning this grade range. The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with a small Hispanic share and very few students from other racial backgrounds. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, as well as counts for students with disabilities and English learners, were not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those support structures.
The school is based on the campus of a single K-12 entity, but a major change is underway. In late 2024, the Orleans Parish School Board voted to close the high school grades at the end of the 2024-25 school year, citing low enrollment and poor academic performance. The K-8 campus will remain open on a contingent three-year contract. High school students will receive priority placement in the district's ongoing enrollment program for 2025-26. This means that as of the present, only the PK-8 portion of the school is certain to continue; families considering the high school grades should be aware that those grades are ending and will not be available going forward.
State testing results were not available in the data, so there is no information on how student proficiency compares to state averages. The comparison set among Orleans Parish's districts shows that the school's chronic absenteeism rate is below the midpoint of the county's districts, meaning a higher than typical share of students are missing substantial school time. Per-pupil current spending sits in the upper half of the middle range among the parish's districts, suggesting the school has near-average financial resources for its size.
The high school closure directly affects families with high-school-age children. For a family considering this school for elementary or middle grades, the K-8 campus remains open, but its long-term stability is tied to a three-year contract. A parent looking at this school should weigh the uncertainty around the high school's closure and the school's overall academic record, which has drawn scrutiny from the parish board. The school serves a community in the Lower 9th Ward, and the loss of the only public high school in that neighborhood is a significant development that reshapes what this district offers.
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