Louisiana School Internet Safety Laws
Louisiana has had its own school internet filtering law since 1999, and it reaches well beyond CIPA. La. R.S. 17:100.7 covers violent, vulgar and harassing content and even bomb-making sites, and it requires schools to send parents information on the harms of pornography.
This guide is for Louisiana technology coordinators, principals and school library staff. Planning guidance, not legal advice.
The CIPA baseline for Louisiana schools
Federal CIPA applies to every Louisiana school and library that receives E-Rate discounts for internet access or internal connections. For the background, read what is CIPA.
Technology protection measure
Block or filter visual depictions that are obscene or child pornography for all users, and harmful to minors on computers that minors use.
Internet safety policy
Address inappropriate material, safety in email and chat, hacking, disclosure of minors' personal data and the filter, after public notice and a hearing or meeting.
Monitoring and education
Monitor minors' online activity and teach appropriate online behavior, social networking safety and cyberbullying awareness.
Translate the Louisiana statute's phrases into category switches for students and staff
R.S. 17:100.7 goes beyond CIPA and covers employee access too. Our hosted CIPA filter blocks by category, so the legal phrases map onto switches you set for each school.
- Adult and VPN/Proxy/Anonymizers come from the CIPA preset, with Lingerie, Gambling and Weapons optional
- Violence, Hate/Discrimination and Illegal Drugs can be added for the wider list
- Always-allow lists per site hold the newspaper domains you approve
What Louisiana adds: R.S. 17:100.7 subsection by subsection
The section was enacted by Act 1014 of 1999 and amended in 2018 and again in 2025. It applies to every governing authority of a public elementary or secondary school, and its policies must be consistent with State Board (BESE) policy.
Adopt policies on student and employee access to internet and online sites with harmful material: material reasonably believed to be obscene, child pornography or child sexual abuse material, conducive to a hostile or dangerous school environment, pervasively vulgar, excessively violent or sexually harassing. Policies must also bar sites with information on making bombs or other incendiary devices.
The policies must require technology that blocks access to that material. The statute names computer-based filtering, internet service provider filtering or both.
An authorized employee or student may have unfiltered access for legitimate scientific or educational purposes, as determined and approved by the governing authority.
An authorized student may have unfiltered access to the online services of a newspaper with a daily circulation of at least 1,000.
The Louisiana Department of Education prepares information on the public health risks and harms of pornography, and schools distribute it to parents of enrolled students.
Louisiana's harmful material list mapped to filter categories
The statute uses legal phrases, while filters use categories. This mapping shows where each phrase lands. Your district should confirm its own reading with counsel, since words like "excessively violent" call for judgment.
| Statute wording | Filter categories that carry it | Students | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obscene | Adult | Block | Block |
| Child pornography and child sexual abuse material | Adult, plus abuse-material block lists | Block | Block |
| Pervasively vulgar | Adult; Lingerie/Swimsuits/Intimate Apparel for younger grades | Block | Block Adult |
| Excessively violent | Violence | Block | Block, research exception |
| Hostile or dangerous school environment | Hate/Discrimination, Weapons, Illegal Drugs | Block | Review by role |
| Sexually harassing | Adult, Dating | Block | Block Adult |
| Bomb or incendiary device information | Weapons | Block | Block, research exception |
| Getting around the filter | VPN / Proxy / Anonymizers | Block | Local choice |
How news sites you might approve appear in our categories
The newspaper exception only helps if the site is not blocked first. These are the labels our data gives some news publishers, several of which carry more than one category.
| Newspaper site | Categories in our data |
|---|---|
| nola.com | News/Media, Sports & Recreation |
| theadvocate.com | News/Media, Sports & Recreation, Community Sites, Political |
| nytimes.com | News/Media, Political |
| wsj.com | Business, News/Media |
| usatoday.com | News/Media |
| apnews.com | News/Media, Political |
The two unfiltered access exceptions
Louisiana is unusual in naming the cases where unfiltered access is allowed. Both need a clear approval route in your procedures.
Scientific or educational purposes
- Applies to authorized employees and authorized students.
- The governing authority decides and approves who qualifies.
- Use a time-limited override tied to a named user, not a shared unfiltered login.
- Record the purpose, the approver and the end date.
Newspaper online services
- Applies to authorized students.
- Covers newspapers with a daily circulation of at least 1,000.
- In practice, allowlist the newspaper's domains so a violent news story does not trigger a block.
- Keep a list of approved newspaper domains and review it yearly.
Giving staff a research window that ends by itself
The research exception needs approval and an end date. In our hosted CIPA filter a staff PIN opens adult research material for 15, 30 or 60 minutes, then it switches back and the use is logged, while VPN/Proxy stays blocked.
Parent information on pornography harms
The 2018 amendment added subsection (B). The Department of Education prepares the material and schools hand it to parents. It must cover four topics.
Sexually charged cyberbullying
The dangers of cyberbullying with a sexual element, such as sharing images.
Addictive and destructive material
The addictive and destructive nature of pornographic and illicit material.
Strangers online
The dangers of internet interaction with people children do not know.
Resources for parents
Child safeguards and free home internet filters, including a list of free filters that block pornography.
BESE Bulletin 741 and local policy
The State Board's Bulletin 741, section 1709, repeats the internet access policy duty for local education agencies, including the blocking technology requirement. Districts usually meet both the statute and the bulletin with one board policy.
- Name both sourcesCite R.S. 17:100.7 and Bulletin 741 alongside CIPA in the policy.
- List the harmful materialUse the statute's full list, including the bomb-making clause.
- Cover employeesState that staff access is filtered too, with approved exceptions.
- Describe the exceptionsSet out who approves research and newspaper access.
- Add the parent noticeSay when and how the department's material is sent home.
- Hold the CIPA meetingGive public notice and adopt after a hearing or meeting.
Act 313 of 2024: phones put away for the instructional day
Senate Bill 207 became Act 313 of 2024 and amended R.S. 17:239. It took effect on May 28, 2024, and 2024 to 2025 was the first school year under it. A 2025 House resolution asked the department to study its effects.
What the law says
- Students may not have a wireless communication device on their person during the instructional day.
- Devices brought to school are turned off and stowed for the day.
- The older ban on unauthorized use in buildings, on grounds and on buses still applies.
- Discipline is left to the school system.
Exceptions and filtering
- Students whose IEP, accommodation plan, Section 504 plan or individualized health plan requires the device are excepted.
- Excepted devices on school Wi-Fi should get the student rule set.
- Block VPN / Proxy / Anonymizers so devices cannot tunnel around Wi-Fi rules.
- With phones stowed, school devices carry nearly all student browsing.
Student privacy: R.S. 17:3914 and filter logs
Louisiana treats personally identifiable student information as protected by the state and federal constitutions. R.S. 17:3914 limits who may receive it and has been amended many times since it was first passed.
Tight sharing rules
School officials are generally barred from giving identifiable student information to outside parties, except as state and federal law allow. Check what your filter provider can see.
Broad definition
The definition of protected information is wide and includes items such as a home IP address. Filter logs that record IP addresses fall close to it.
Data map and retention
List each field your filter keeps, who can read it and how long you keep it. Delete on a schedule you can explain.
Social media laws: what schools should know
Louisiana passed the Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation Act in 2023. It required large social media platforms to make reasonable efforts to verify age and get parental consent for minors.
| Item | Status at our last check | Effect on schools |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 age verification and consent law | Ruled unconstitutional by a federal district judge in December 2025; the Attorney General said the state would appeal | None directly; it targets platforms |
| School social media blocking | Not required by name in state law | A local choice, but "sexually harassing" and "hostile environment" content inside platforms still falls under R.S. 17:100.7 |
What it means for filtering and monitoring in Louisiana
The broader harmful material list means a Louisiana student rule set starts stricter than in many states. These choices keep it accurate and workable.
Start from the full list
Block Adult, Violence, Weapons, Hate/Discrimination, Illegal Drugs and Dating for students, plus VPN / Proxy / Anonymizers.
Allow approved newspapers
Allowlist qualifying newspaper domains so news on violence or crime stays reachable for authorized students.
Filter staff too
Apply the harmful material blocks to employee accounts, with logged research overrides.
Monitor by category
CIPA expects monitoring. Category reports by school, with alerts for Weapons and Violence, give useful signals without reading every history.
Off-campus devices
Filter take-home devices too. See filtering school devices off campus.
AI tools
No Louisiana statute names AI tools. The AI tools blocklist for schools lets you allow approved ones only.
Common Louisiana situations
The wide harmful material list creates questions that a CIPA-only state does not face. Here is how the statute tends to settle them.
A war documentary site is blocked
Violence is on the list, but research access exists for educational purposes. Approve a scoped override for the class, or allow the specific domain after review.
A lab safety page mentions explosives
The bomb-making clause targets instructions, not safety science. Check the site's categories before deciding, and allow it if it is educational.
Students need local news
Use the newspaper exception. Allowlist the paper's domains for authorized students so crime coverage does not trigger blocks.
A staff member researches self-harm
Employees are covered too, so use a logged staff override with an approver and an end date.
A parent asks about home filters
Point them to the department's parent material, which lists free home filtering options as subsection (B) requires.
A student shares images by phone
Act 313 keeps phones stowed during the instructional day. Sexually charged cyberbullying is also a topic in the parent material and CIPA lessons.
Louisiana compliance checklist
Run this each summer and before the E-Rate window. The CIPA compliance checklist covers the federal items in depth.
- Board policy cites R.S. 17:100.7, Bulletin 741 and CIPA
- Full harmful material list in the policy, including bomb-making sites
- Blocking technology in place on every student and staff network
- Employee accounts filtered, with an approved research override
- Newspaper allowlist reviewed and approved
- Department's pornography-harm material sent to parents
- CIPA notice and hearing or meeting documented
- Act 313 device policy and exceptions recorded
- VPN and proxy categories blocked for students
- Off-campus filtering confirmed on take-home devices
- Filter contracts and logs reviewed against R.S. 17:3914
- Form 486 or 479 filed on time
Evidence to keep
Louisiana adds parent notices and named exceptions, so your records need to show more than a working filter.
| Record | What it shows | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Board policy, notice and minutes | Policy adopted with public process | CIPA, R.S. 17:100.7, Bulletin 741 |
| Dated student and staff rule set exports | Harmful material blocked for both groups | R.S. 17:100.7 (A)(1) and (A)(2) |
| Research override log with approvals | Exception used as the law allows | R.S. 17:100.7 (A)(3) |
| Approved newspaper domain list | Newspaper exception applied | R.S. 17:100.7 (A)(4) |
| Copy of parent material and send dates | Parent information distributed | R.S. 17:100.7 (B) |
| Monitoring reports and lesson records | Monitoring and education carried out | CIPA |
| Device policy and exception plans | Instructional-day rule in place | R.S. 17:239 (Act 313) |
| Filed Forms 486 or 479 | Federal certification | CIPA |
Louisiana R.S. 17:100.7 duties set beside the hosted CIPA filter
The left column is taken from the subsections of the statute described on this page.
| Louisiana duty | Hosted CIPA filter feature |
|---|---|
| Technology that blocks harmful material (A)(2) | A DNS filter run for you, deciding by domain through category switches |
| Student and employee access policies (A)(1) | One console with separate settings per school or branch |
| Unfiltered access for educational purposes (A)(3) | Staff PIN for 15, 30 or 60 minutes, logged, then it reverts |
| Unfiltered newspaper services (A)(4) | Always-allow list per site for the approved publishers |
| Getting around the filter | VPN/Proxy blocked, even with the PIN |
| Proof for the governing authority | Activity reports, a policy record and log export |
Louisiana school internet safety FAQ
Does Louisiana have its own school internet filtering law?
Yes. R.S. 17:100.7, first enacted in 1999, requires public school governing authorities to adopt policies on student and employee access to harmful material and to use blocking technology. CIPA applies on top for E-Rate schools.
What counts as harmful material under R.S. 17:100.7?
Material reasonably believed to be obscene, child pornography or child sexual abuse material, conducive to a hostile or dangerous school environment, pervasively vulgar, excessively violent or sexually harassing, plus sites on making bombs or incendiary devices.
Can anyone in a Louisiana school get unfiltered access?
Yes. Authorized employees or students may, for legitimate scientific or educational purposes approved by the governing authority. Authorized students may also reach newspapers with a daily circulation of at least 1,000.
What must Louisiana schools send to parents?
The department's information on the public health risks and harms of pornography, covering sexually charged cyberbullying, addictive material, strangers online and resources such as free home filters.
What is the Louisiana school phone law?
Act 313 of 2024 bars students from having wireless devices on their person during the instructional day. Devices are turned off and stowed, with exceptions for IEP, 504, accommodation and health plans.
Does R.S. 17:100.7 apply to Louisiana private schools?
The section is written for governing authorities of public elementary and secondary schools. A private school that takes E-Rate discounts must still meet CIPA, and many follow the Louisiana list as good practice.
Is Louisiana's social media age verification law in force?
A federal judge ruled it unconstitutional in December 2025 and blocked enforcement, and the state said it would appeal. It targets platforms, not schools.
Compare Louisiana with other states
Southern neighbours take different approaches to filtering, phones and social media. See every guide on our school internet safety laws by state page.
Related guides
Price follows the number of Louisiana schools and devices in scope, and a quote arrives within one business day. A pilot on one school shows the blocks and the reports before you commit.
Talk to us about your district
We can show how category filtering, separate student and staff rule sets, a newspaper allowlist and logged research overrides can fit your Louisiana district.