BESE:
Board of Elementary
and Secondary Education
WHAT IS BESE?
The letters B-E-S-E stand for the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education was established as a constitutional body
during the 1973 Constitutional Convention.BESE became the administrative policy-making body for
elementary-secondary schools, and in accordance with the Constitution, eight elected members from
the eight BESE districts serve on the Board along with three members-at-large appointed by the Governor.
The Board sets key education initiatives and strives to provide leadership in setting an education
agenda for the continuous improvement of public education as measured by student and school achievement.
BESE operates through a system of standing committees. Among these committees is the Student and School
Standards/Instruction committee. This committee considers all matters relative to student and school standards.
Any matters, from the electives you are required to take to which textbooks students are using in class,
are looked at, researched, and approved by this committee. Being that this committee considers matters allocated
to student standards, a student representative is chosen to serve on this committee as the only student representative
to serve on the Louisiana Board of Education.

BESE Cover Letter
BESE Application
BESE Application Page 2
BESE Leadership and Honors
BESE Permission Slip and Reimbursement Form