ATHLETICS: Requests the Louisiana High School Athletic Association to recognize dance, cheer, and lacrosse as sanctioned sports

2026 Regular Session Introduced by Kellee Hennessy and 2 co-sponsors

Louisiana would request LHSAA to sanction dance, cheer, and lacrosse as interscholastic sports, enabling formal recognition and competition opportunities if approved.

Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 42, nays 49. Failed to pass.

Purpose and intent

HCR 10 is a House Concurrent Resolution that requests the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) to designate certain activities as sanctioned interscholastic sports.

The resolution originally requests that dance and cheer be added as sanctioned sports; amendments to the bill expand this to include lacrosse as well.

The overall aim is to formally recognize these activities within the LHSAA framework to provide participants with the same interscholastic competition opportunities and related benefits as other sanctioned sports.

Key provisions and changes

Original request: The LHSAA add the following as sanctioned interscholastic sports:

Dance
Cheer

Amended provisions (as adopted by the House Committee on Education):

Dance, cheer, and lacrosse are requested to be added as sanctioned interscholastic sports by the LHSAA.

The amendments uniformly insert the word “lacrosse” into the list alongside “dance” and “cheer” across multiple lines of the bill, indicating lacrosse’s inclusion as a sanctioned sport in the requested action.

The resolution does not provide funding mechanisms, implementation timelines, or specific eligibility criteria; it is a formal request directed to the LHSAA.

Who would be affected

Students and student-athletes participating in:

Dance teams
Cheer programs
Lacrosse teams

School districts and high schools in Louisiana, as they would align their athletic programs with LHSAA-sanctioned sports if the LHSAA approves the request.

LHSAA itself, which would assume governance, regulation, scheduling, eligibility, and postseason structure for these activities if designated as sanctioned.

Procedural and timeline aspects

Current status: The bill is a concurrent resolution requesting action by the LHSAA; it does not itself create new law but seeks a administrative determination by the association.

Action history:

March 10, 2026: Referred to the House Committee on Education.
April 1, 2026: Amended, engrossed, and forwarded to a third reading.
April 13, 2026: Read third time with roll call vote; the measure failed to pass (yeas 42, nays 49).

Result: As of the latest action, the resolution did not become law or require action by the LHSAA, given its failure to pass on the final chamber vote. The bill would only have effect if subsequently revived and passed through the legislature and if the LHSAA elects to act on the request.

Note on scope and impact

The bill does not authorize funding, create new programs directly, or define specific standards for competition, safety, or eligibility.

If revived and adopted by the LHSAA, the practical impact would include formal recognition within the association’s governance framework, potential development of competition schedules, championships, eligibility rules, and related opportunities for participants in dance, cheer, and lacrosse at the high school level in Louisiana.

Bill