The h Legislature is poised to give final approval to a plan that would mostly keep boundaries for h's top school board intact, and without the additional majority-minority district that Black lawmakers sought.
A House-passed bill that would keep the status quo– – cleared the Senate & Governmental Affairs Committee Tuesday 6-2 and is headed for the full Senate.
A few minutes later a Senate-passed bill that does much the same– – won approval in a House committee 8-4 and now goes to the full House.
State Sen. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, one of the sponsors of the Senate measure along with Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, said the issue is headed for a joint House-Senate negotiating committee to iron out minor differences ahead of final approval by adjournment by Sunday.
BESE representation around the Northshore is one of the remaining issues.
At stake are boundaries for the eight elected districts of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, with adjustments for population changes in the past 10 years. Three other BESE members are named by the governor.
The board sets policies for about 690,000 students statewide, nearly half are minorities.
Foil told the House & Governmental Affairs Committee that his map mirrors the one approved by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2010, including two majority-minority districts.
A majority-minority district is one where minority residents, most of whom are Black people, comprise a majority of the district.
"I believe the plan meets the requirements of the Voting Rights Act," Foil said, a reference to the federal law aimed in part at ensuring minorities are fairly represented on BESE, the Legislature and in the state's congressional delegation.
The committee voted 6-7 against another map that backers said would pave the way for a third majority-minority district that would be in northwest h.
BESE now has two majority-minority districts: District 2, held by Kira Orange Jones, of New Orleans, and District 8, held by Preston Castille, of Baton Rouge.
Rep. Patrick Jefferson, D-Homer, sponsor of that effort, said the growth of the state's Black population in the past decade and other factors argued for the change.
Jefferson acknowledged that his bill was a "Hail Mary" since it had only a remote chance of gaining political traction. "You will be able to say 'I did what is fair, I did what is equitable,' he told committee members.
Rep. John Stefanski, R-Crowley, chairman of the committee and the leader of redistricting efforts in the House, said Jefferson's BESE map would be oddly shaped.
Stefanski and others also questioned whether a redrawn District 4 would constitute a majority-minority district since Black voters would make up less than 50% of the voting age population in what is now a district dominated by White voters.
"It is an opportunity," Jefferson replied.
Under Jefferson's proposal District 4 would be 51.1% Black residents, including 48.4% of voting age.
Rep. Sam Jenkins, D-Shreveport, chairman of the House Democratic caucus, said Jefferson's proposal clearly shows that lawmakers could draw a new BESE map with three majority-minority districts.
The longshot push for a third such district was all but torpedoed Monday when Gov. John Bel Edwards told reporters he would not lose sleep if the BESE bill did not include a new majority-minority district.
Asked about Edwards' comments Jefferson said, "We may be bloody, but we are still unbowed."