The Board consists of eight elected and three appointed members, and is responsible for selecting the State Superintendent of Education.
[1] The Board originally had the responsibility of appointing the state's Superintendent of Public Education,[2] which had been an elected office before that point.
However, in 1922, the legislature proposed a constitutional amendment that continued the elected Superintendent, which the voters ratified.
The constitution continued the elected Superintendent, but allowed the legislature to abolish the office by a two-thirds vote, which it did in 1985.
[3] The Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) oversees public elementary and secondary education in the state, including schools in the Special School District, which serves students in correctional and mental health facilities.