Act 479 Brings Cameras to Louisiana’s Special Education Classroom

(KPEL News) - We live in an age when someone is always watching, and now cameras are coming to Louisiana classrooms. If you have always wondered what goes on in your child's classroom, you'll soon be able to find out more.

In the state of Louisiana, as in many other parts of our country, technology is being implemented in almost every aspect of our school campuses.

The technology helps students to learn, do their homework, and progress through each grade level.

What Is Changing In Louisiana?

A new law passed by the Louisiana Legislature and signed into law will now permit the use of cameras in classrooms.

The Louisiana government has passed Act 479, which now requires school districts to install cameras in classrooms across the state.

Not every classroom in the state will receive a camera, and school districts have until February 2026 to install the cameras in all designated classrooms.

What Will Louisiana Act 479 Mandate?

According to the law, special education classrooms in the state of Louisiana have until February 1, 2026, to install at least one camera at each school.

It used to be that you had to request a camera be placed in your child's special education class; however, this requirement will be in effect by next year.

In Lafayette Parish, for example, the Special Education Director for the Lafayette Parish School System states that they are reaching each classroom and will have one in all 132 classrooms by the due date in 2026.

The changes will allow parents to see what happens in special education classes.

And while cameras won't be in every classroom in Louisiana, they will be in each special education class by February 1, 2026.

It's a relief to many parents in Acadiana and across the state.

To illustrate the need for this law, KATC spoke with the mother of 11-year-old Aubrey Girard, who says that her daughter has been in special education classes since the age of three. The child now attends Magnolia Elementary School in Iberia Parish.

Aubrey is a non-verbal child.

Her mother, Leah Girard, says she and the girl's father had been trying for years to get a camera in her daughter's classroom.

Girard says that now, with the law, it will happen, and she believes this will be beneficial to parents and teachers, especially with a child like Aubrey, in understanding how she changes over time.

She says,

It could help where either the teacher or I, as her parent, will be able to know, ‘OK, this is what happened, this is why she’s acting the way that she’s acting.’ Then we can correct whatever that is.

If you are interested in reading more about ACT 479, click here.