This article presents Louisiana's education finance and governance profile. Louisiana witnessed a 3.9% decline in population during the period from 2000 to 2007. Poverty persists both in urban and rural areas of the state, as demonstrated by visible poverty both in the agricultural parishes and in major cities such as New Orleans and Shreveport (Yom-Tov, 2004). The state's education budget is divided into six categories: state activities, subgrantee assistance, recovery school district, minimum foundation program, nonpublic educational assistance, and special school districts. Funds for these activities come from local, state, and federal sources. For FY 2008-09, the enacted budget appropriation is $4.946 billion, compared to $5.363 billion for the previous year. The Louisiana Public School System has 68 city/parish school districts and has 1,442 public schools. The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) is the administrative policymaking body for elementary and secondary schools. In the ranking of student achievement, Louisiana ranks 47th, a one-notch improvement from the year 2008. Furthermore, the state is also focusing heavily on English Language Learners (ELL), especially in the New Orleans area where ELL enrollment has grown to 10% of the student population. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)