In the new year, the proposal to create a school district that matches the city of St. George will again take center stage as supporters and opponents rev up contrasting campaigns ahead of a key May 16 statewide vote.
St. George Mayor Dustin Yates said supporters are preparing an expensive public marketing campaign that will launch in January to persuade voters to amend the ¶¶Òõh Constitution to fund the proposed new school district.
“I’m sure it will be in the six figures,†Yates said. “What the number is exactly I can’t tell you quite yet.â€
A pre-existing political organization in St. George, , is leading opposition to the new school district. PULSE, which stands for People United to Lead St. George Engagement, has already begun efforts to amplify opposition to the breakaway school district.
PULSE held public panels in October and earlier this month with speakers who cast doubt on carving St. George out of the East Baton Rouge school system. The group's efforts, though, look to be more modest than the efforts of St. George school supporters, focusing on amassing volunteers, public events and word of mouth.
Backers of the proposed new school district say it is an overdue answer to the poor quality of many Baton Rouge public schools. Opponents argue that a St. George school district would exacerbate racial segregation in the parish, reduce the quality of education for poorer children in the Baton Rouge public schools left behind and encourage more breakaway school districts in the future.
The Legislature in June approved the proposed constitutional amendment by the necessary two-thirds margin, sending it to voters. It passed with a Republican supermajority voting yes and Democrats either voting no or being absent for the vote.
If voters say yes, the St. George school district would begin operating in July 2027. It would be the fifth public school district in East Baton Rouge Parish, following the lead of Baker, Central and Zachary, which broke away in 2003 and 2007.
“We’re excited that we are finally to finally get this thing to a vote, just like we were finally able to get the city to a vote,†Yates said.
The proposed constitutional amendment needs to pass statewide as well as in East Baton Rouge Parish. That makes it a bigger task than the Oct. 12, 2019, vote that created the city of St. George. Only voters in St. George voted that day, and the incorporation passed by a slim 54% to 46% margin.
Yates said that he and a small group of other St. George supporters have been meeting to iron out the details of the campaign to come, which he said will include some familiar faces and other groups that are coming on board.
“I don’t know that we’ll have an umbrella organization over it all,†Yates said. “We don’t have a catchy acronym like the other side.â€
On Dec. 7, PULSE held a panel discussion at the Greenwell Springs branch library, which attracted about 30 people. It was a preview of the arguments voters will hear as the May 16 vote approaches.
Panelist Belinda Davis is not new to the opposition. A parent of children in public schools, Davis was president of an opposition group more than decade ago when the southeast Baton Rouge area unsuccessfully lobbied the Legislature to create a breakaway school district with notably different boundaries than the current proposed district. She later served from 2020 to 2023 on the ¶¶Òõh Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Davis testified earlier this year in the Legislature against the St. George school legislation. One of the debates focused on how much of an estimated $60 million in legacy costs, most of it connected with medical care of retirees, St. George would pay for.
“We were able to get them to take part of it, but they are not picking all of it,†Davis told the audience. “So what that means is if the St George district passes you are going to see more dollars taken out of our students' classrooms in order to pay for what the wealthiest school district in the state of ¶¶Òõh refused to take with them.â€
Dadrius Lanus, an East Baton Rouge Parish School Board member who also testified against the St. George school legislation, also served on the Dec. 7 panel. He questioned the St. George supporters' argument that they need their own district because the parish school system is poor performing. He noted that the public schools in St. George are some of the highest performing in the parish school district.
“On average, they are a B-plus,†Lanus said. “Which is why that narrative never made any sense.â€