How LA GATOR works for New Orleans families

What it is

A state-funded education savings account (the Giving All True Opportunity to Rise program) that Louisiana opened statewide in 2025-26. The money sits in an Odyssey account in the student's name and goes out in four quarterly deposits. It replaced the old Louisiana Scholarship Program vouchers that many New Orleans Catholic schools accepted for years.

Who can get one

Any Louisiana resident aged 5 to 21 by September 30, with no income cap. Because the appropriation is fixed, awards go out in priority order: students already in the program, then students with an IDEA disability and households at or below 250% of the poverty line ($80,375 for a family of four), then siblings of participants, then everyone else by application time.

What you get

$5,243 for most students, $7,626 if your household is at or below 250% of poverty, and up to $15,253 for a student with a disability under IDEA (tiered). A student who had a Louisiana Scholarship Program voucher and stays at the same school keeps the 2024-25 voucher amount until the school's last grade.

Where it's spent

Tuition and required fees at BESE-approved schools, through Odyssey. Or, for home-based families, approved courses, curriculum, tutoring, therapy, testing and technology in the Odyssey marketplace. The two paths don't mix: a student enrolled full-time uses the account for that school.

When to apply

In the spring window, which for 2026-27 ran March 1 to March 16, 2026. Returning students renew in the same window or lose their place. For New Orleans families that timing collides with Catholic high school acceptance letters, which arrive in February and March; apply to LA GATOR before you know where your child is going, and update the school later.

What the budget means

17,848 students applied for 2026-27 and 16,993 were eligible, but the Legislature kept funding at $43.5 million, enough for roughly the returning students and the top priority groups. New applicants outside those groups are on a waitlist that moves as seats open.

Why New Orleans is different

In most Louisiana parishes the award is close to a parish school's tuition. In New Orleans it rarely is. The archdiocesan high schools, the independent schools Uptown and in Metairie, and the larger Christian schools charge well above $7,626. The account is still worth having, but the plan has to include the second and third layers: an STO scholarship if your income qualifies, the archdiocese's tuition assistance fund, and the school's own aid. We walk through that order in the tuition assistance guide.

The other local wrinkle is grade 8. Parish schools end at 7, high schools start at 8, and the admissions calendar (open houses in the fall, placement tests in winter, letters in late winter) runs ahead of the LA GATOR window. The 8th-grade entry guide lays out the dates side by side.

The high schools, by size

Source: LDOE 2025-26 BESE-approved list; TDC 2024-25 list. All 18 high schools →

Other money, briefly

Louisiana allows an income tax deduction for nonpublic tuition, fees, uniforms and required supplies (check the current cap with the Department of Revenue). Beginning with the 2027 tax year, the federal Education Freedom scholarship tax credit will fund scholarships through approved scholarship-granting organizations; Louisiana opted in on December 17, 2025, and the list of organizations is pending. Our partner scholarship for church-run schools has terms pending.

Map my funding →