The prospect of a new St. George school district means potential job changes for the hundreds of employees working at the five public schools that St. George would inherit, but also opportunities for educators both near and far interested in trying something new.
The same dynamics were at play when Baker and Zachary in 2003, followed by Central in 2007, broke away from the East Baton Rouge Parish school system and formed their own independent school districts.
The five district-run schools located in the city limits of St. George currently employ 478 people, ranging from 67 at Shenandoah Elementary to 141 at Woodlawn High. About 300 are teachers.
All will have decisions to make if voters greenlight a St. George school district when they head to the polls May 16.
, Robin Clark, a pre-K teacher at Jefferson Terrace Academy, one of the affected schools, shared her concerns about her employment future.
โIf this passes, my job is gone, I cannot teach in the same room, in the same classroom with the same supplies that I have in my room,โ Clark told an audience of about 70 people at a Baton Rouge magnet school. โTwenty-one years in this district and no guarantee of a job.โ
Teachers with tenure, like Clark, would likely lose that protected status if they are hired by St. George; school districts rarely grant tenure to teachers who transfer from another district. They also would lose the retiree health insurance benefits they have accrued unless they first retire from East Baton Rougeย โ some are not yet vested and canโt yet retire.
If they stay with East Baton Rouge, they will need to land an open position somewhere else in the district, or, failing that, be reassigned to a new district job. If there are not enough vacant positions, it is possible that East Baton Rouge could lay off unhired employees still waiting for positions.
The East Baton Rouge Parish school system in March provided some information for affected employees on a webpage, , offering answers to โfrequently asked questions.โ
Little detail, โrock solidโ foundation
Dustin Yates, mayor of the city of St. George, who is doing most of the public speaking on behalf of the proposed district, has said little about how the new school district would operate. He says such decisions would come soon after the May 16 vote with the appointment of an interim St. George school board.
Yates, however, said that the new school district would have a strong tax base from the start, enough to provide a tax cut to St. George residents.
โWe have rigorously crunched the numbers and our financial foundation is rock solid,โ the mayor saidย at an April 20 news conference.
Louisian has requested but has yet to receive a copy of the St. George school financial estimates.
Strong finances suggests that St. George could match or potentially outdo the current salaries and benefits offered by the East Baton Rouge Parish school system and potentially other neighboring school districts as well.
Starting teachers in East Baton Rouge Parish with a bachelorโs degree make $50,000 a year. That is seventh out of 13 districts in the Baton Rouge region and 20th out of 69 districts statewide. When it comes to starting teacher salaries, Iberville Parish pays $60,506 a year, the most in the Baton Rouge region, while St. Charles pays $63,000, the most in the state.
Teacher salaries in East Baton Rouge increase to $54,500 after 20 years on the job and to $64,500 after 30 years.
East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent LaMont Cole plans to propose a sizable employee pay raise in mid-May when he releases the proposed district budget for the 2026-27 school year.
It is possible that St. George opts not to operate its own schools and instead contracts out with charter schools. If so, it would do little to no hiring at all. That is how Orleans Parish operates, with the exception of one school.
Central and Zachary, the fourth and fifth highest ranked districts in ถถา๕h currently, however, are the examples from which St. George so far is drawing the most.
โWe didnโt want to reinvent the wheel,โ Yates said. โWe have local systems that have successfully made the transition.โ
Tales from Zachary and Central
Warren Drake became Zacharyโs superintendent in summer 2002. He had less than a year to staff the four schools Zachary was taking over the following July. He recalls that employees at Zachary High were surprised he needed to do much hiring at all.
โEveryone in that school just thought they would automatically become part of the school,โ organized by the Chamber of Commerce of East Baton Rouge Parish.
Drake could not freely visit those four schoolsย โ then Superintendent Clayton Wilcox insisted that he also be present anytime Drake was on those campuses. He said he interviewed every teacher hired.
In the end, he estimates he kept about 65% of the previous school employees in Zachary.
โWhen you have a clean slate like I had, you better take advantage of it,โ Drake said.
In the case of school transportation, he did no hiring at all. He outsourced that service to Cincinnati-based First Student Inc.
โI had a stipulation that as superintendent I can fire a driver as needed,โ Drake recalled. โI never had to do it.โ
Four years later, Michael Faulk was in a similar boat. He was hired in February 2007 to be Centralโs first superintendent. After relocating from Bastrop, more than 150 miles to the north, Faulk had just five months to get Centralโs new school district on its feet.
By May, he had hired his top staff and the principals for the four Central schools. He turned to hiring teachers and other staff. He recalls interviewing about 150 teachers himself.
โWe focused on why did they want to teach in the Central school system,โ Faulk said in an interview.
He said he ended up retaining about 60% of the previous employees of the schools in Central.
Some employees nearing retirement did not apply, opting to stay with East Baton Rouge. But they were more than offset by new applicants for several neighboring districts inspired by the thrill of the new.
โIt was going to be a unique experience and they wanted to be part of it,โ Faulk said.
Itโs the same reason he took the job, despite the stressfully short timetable.
โIt was exciting,โ Faulk said. โIt was something very few people had done. I just loved the excitement, challenge and the opportunity.โ