School boards may lease certain congressional school lands, but only with required approval and subject to limits on use, payment, reentry, and mineral rights.
PART V. LEASE OF SCHOOL LANDS §981. Lease of lands granted by congress for school purposes A. The school board of any parish or municipality in which land is located that was granted, appropriated or reserved by congress in trust to the state of Louisiana, for school purposes is authorized to lease such land, except portions thereof in use or needed for school purposes, to a parish or municipality through a corporate industrial development board organized under the provisions of Chapter 7 of Title 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, as an instrumentality of the parish or municipality, subject to the approval of such lease by the Louisiana Board of Commerce and Industry. B. The school board may enter into such leases by authority of a resolution adopted by the board, without approval of a vote of electors and without advertising or seeking bids. Provided, however, that the amount of the lease payment shall be equal to the fair market value of such Section 16 lands at the time of entering into the lease as determined by the industrial development board and fair market value redetermined every ten years for the purpose of adjusting rentals, set forth in R.S. 41:981A. The school board may not grant to such a lessee any right to develop or produce oil, gas or any other minerals on such land. C. Every such lease shall provide for the reentry thereon by the school board for use for school purpose at any time upon reasonable notice to the lessee with respect to all or any part of the leased premises except such land upon which the lessee has constructed improvements as permitted by the lease or otherwise with the consent of the school board, together with a reasonable acreage surrounding the improvements adequate to permit the intended use of the improvement. D. Except as otherwise agreed upon in the lease, the ownership of, removal of, compensation for and other matters relative to improvements placed upon the leased land shall be governed by Chapter 7 of Title 51 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 and by the general laws of this state governing leases. E. All revenues realized from a lease authorized by this section shall be paid to the school board and credited to the current school fund of the parish or municipality, as the case may be. In the event the township in which the sixteenth section is located lies in two or more parishes, the revenues realized from the lease shall be prorated on the basis of percentage of the township lying within each parish. F. Except as otherwise provided in this section, a school board may enter a lease herein authorized upon such terms and conditions and for such consideration as the board shall determine. G. The provisions of this section shall be in addition and supplemental to other powers and authority granted to school boards by other laws. Added by Acts 1973, No. 161, §1.