Senate Approves SE BR Schools 27-11

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Senate has passed and sent to the House two bills to give voters the chance to approved the new Southeast Baton Rouge Community School District.

The State Senate approved SB 73, a constitutional amendment, by a vote of 27-11, and implementing legislation, SB 199, by a vote of 25-12.  The measures now move to the House Education Committee and, if approved there, to the House floor.

The new school district would be bounded on the north by I-12, the west by I-10, the south by Bayou Manchac, and the east by the Amite River.

The author, Sen. Bodi White, said he hopes the new district will duplicate the success of the Central and Zachary school districts, both of which broke away from East Baton Rouge Parish.  Zachary is now the No. 1-performing district in the state, based on school performance scores, and Central is No. 5.  East Baton Rouge is ranked No. 55 of 70.

White said he was offering the legislation because of overwhelming support from the people of the proposed district.  He said his poll shows over 70 percent of the voters there favor the plan.  He said the bill offers protection for EBR Parish and that the parish school system would actually receive $5.5 million more in MFP funds than its pro-rata share.

The legislation was opposed from the podium by Sen. Sharon Broome, who said, “This will bankrupt the East Baton Rouge system.”  She said no new school district had ever been a mere collection of neighborhoods and has always been located in a city.  “If public education in EBR is broken, we should work to fix it,” she said.  “How can changing district lines improve student performance?” she asked.

White responded that EBR is the wealthiest parish in the state and that the withdrawal of the residential areas in the southeast will by no means bankrupt the parish system.  He pointed out that the area is a middle income area and that it includes none of the parish’s industries, major shopping areas, or wealthy neighborhoods, all of which will remain with the EBR system.  White said the public has no confidence in the ability of the EBR system to be fixed.  “We’ve seen student enrollment decline from 65,000 to 43,000 students,” he said.

Sen. Dale Erdey, who represents parts of Central and Livingston Parish, said the Central school system has been a success.  “People in Central are happy with their schools, very happy.  It’s a Top 10-ranked school system.  The people there value their children, and they have built an improved infrastructure.”  Erdey said good public schools are the key to growth and development.  He said he asks people why they move to Livingston and they invariably say good schools.

White picked up that theme and said the flaws in the EBR system have been building Livingston schools and driving Livingston’s growth.  He said that, while EBR’s student enrollment has collapsed, Livingston’s enrollment has boomed.

Regarding whether new school districts have always been located in municipalities, a check of the Louisiana Revised Statutes reveals three exceptions to that: 1) The North Rapides Community School District was created in the late 1990’s.  It consisted of rural ares of northern Rapides Parish.  It was later repealed.  2) About 40 percent of the Zachary school system is outside the City of Zachary.  3) The Central school system includes an area west of the Comite River which is not part of the City of Central.

If SB 73, the constitutional amendment, is approved by the House, it will have to be approved by voters statewide, in East Baton Rouge Parish, and in the proposed Southeast Baton Rouge Community School District.

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Capital City News.  Photo of Sen. Sharon Broome, opposing the legislation, Sen. Ben Nevers of Bogalusa, and Sen. Bodi White.  Photo by Woody Jenkins.