UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
VOICES FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS AND
EDUCATION, INC. D/B/A INTERNATIONAL
HIGH SCHOOL OF NEW ORLEANS
Employer
and

Case 15-RC-175505

UNITED TEACHERS OF NEW ORLEANS,
LOCAL 527, LFT, AFT
Petitioner
ORDER
The Employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of
Election is denied as it raises no substantial issues warranting review.1

1

In denying review, we agree with the Regional Director, for the reasons she stated, that
the Employer charter school is not exempt as a political subdivision under Sec. 2(2) of the
National Labor Relations Act. We find that the Regional Director correctly applied the test in
NLRB v. Natural Gas Utility District of Hawkins County, 402 U.S. 600 (1971) (“Hawkins
County”), in finding that the Employer was neither created directly by the state of Louisiana so
as to constitute a department or administrative arm of the government nor administered by
individuals who are responsible to public officials or the general electorate. We do not, however,
rely on the Regional Director’s citation to Chicago Mathematics & Science Academy Charter
School, 359 NLRB 455 (2012), a recess-Board decision. See NLRB v. Noel Canning, 1345 S. Ct.
2550 (2014). Instead, we find that the Regional Director’s analysis is consistent with
Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School, 364 NLRB No. 87 (2016)(“Pennsylvania Virtual”) and
Hyde Leadership Charter School-Brooklyn, 364 NLRB No. 88 (2016)(“Hyde Leadership”). In
each of those cases, the Board applied the Hawkins County test to a charter school operating
pursuant to a state statute, whose creation by individual applicants and governance by its board
of trustees exhibit only minor, non-substantive differences from the instant case. In asserting
jurisdiction in those cases, the Board rejected arguments similar to those raised by the Employer
in this case.
We likewise find no merit in the Employer’s arguments that the Board should, pursuant
to Sec. 14(c)(1) of the Act, decline to assert jurisdiction over the charter school, a private, nonprofit education corporation, because of its limited impact on interstate commerce, the legislative
intent to treat charter schools as public schools, and the state’s authority to regulate the labor
relations of its public employees. The Board has rejected similar arguments in Pennsylvania
Virtual, supra, slip op. at 9-10, and Hyde Leadership, supra, slip op. at 7-8. Further, we disagree
with our colleague’s view that the Board should decline to exercise jurisdiction over charter

 MARK GASTON PEARCE,

MEMBER

LAUREN McFERRAN,

MEMBER

Dated, Washington, D.C., February 1, 2017
Acting Chairman Miscimarra, dissenting:
I would grant the Employer’s Request for Review and dismiss the petition. The
Employer operates a New Orleans, Louisiana charter school chartered by the Louisiana Board of
Elementary and Secondary Education, a state-wide elected body, pursuant to the Louisiana
Charter School Demonstration Programs Law. Under Louisiana law and federal regulations, the
Employer is a “local education agency,” a status that makes it equivalent to a public school
board. See La. R.S. 17:3995(H); 34 C.F.R. Sec. 303.23(a). Thus, for reasons fully explained in
my dissenting opinion in Hyde Leadership Charter School-Brooklyn, 364 NLRB No. 88, slip op.
at 9-16 (2016) (Acting Chairman Miscimarra, dissenting), I believe that the Employer is a
political subdivision of the State of Louisiana exempt from the Board’s jurisdiction pursuant to
Section 2(2) of the Act under the standard set forth in NLRB v. Natural Gas Utility District of
Hawkins County, 402 U.S. 600 (1971).
In addition, I believe that the Board should in any event decline jurisdiction over the
Employer, and other charter schools as a class, pursuant to Section 14(c)(1) of the Act for the
reasons fully explained in my dissenting opinions in The Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School,
364 NLRB No. 87, slip op. at 11-18 (2016) (Acting Chairman Miscimarra, dissenting), and Hyde
Leadership Charter School-Brooklyn, above, slip op. at 14-16 (Acting Chairman Miscimarra,
dissenting). Declining jurisdiction is particularly appropriate in this case, because more than 90
percent of all New Orleans public school students currently attend public charter schools like the
Employer. In my view, that, along with other factors, underscores that the New Orleans public
charter schools are “essentially local in nature” and “peculiarly related to, and regulated by, local
governments.” Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School, above, slip op. at 13 (quoting Hialeah
Race Course, 125 NLRB 388, 391 (1959) and 38 Fed. Reg. 9537, 9537 (1973).

PHILIP A. MISCIMARRA,

ACTING CHAIRMAN

schools in New Orleans because the operation of these schools is essentially local in nature, for
the reasons the Board discussed in Pennsylvania Virtual, slip op. at 9-10.