Voters across Louisiana on May 16 will be asked to say yes or no to forming a new school district that matches the City of St. George. It’s on the ballot after more than a decade of struggle.
If approved, the new district would be Louisiana’s 70th public school district and fifth in East Baton Rouge Parish. Starting in July 2027, St. George would join Baker, Central and Zachary in breaking from the parish school system and forming independent school districts.
Backers of the proposed new school district say it is an overdue answer to the poor quality of many Baton Rouge public schools. The East Baton Rouge Parish school system has an overall academic letter grade of a C and is ranked 55th out of 69 districts in the state.
Opponents argue that a St. George school district would exacerbate racial segregation in the parish, reduce the quality of education for poorer children left behind in the Baton Rouge public schools and encourage more breakaway school districts in the future.
The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board voted a year ago to oppose the St. George school legislation, seeking unsuccessfully to amend the bill so that the new school district would pay for a proportional share of an estimated $361 million in “legacy” costs — largely the cost of medical insurance for retirees.
That board has yet to take an official stance on the proposed constitutional amendment. The district last month where it offers answers to many “frequently asked questions” on the proposal.
Partial divorce
Unlike Baker, Central and Zachary, the new school district would not completely divorce itself from the parish school system. Students living in St. George, under the proposal, would continue to have access in perpetuity to popular magnet programs in Baton Rouge, including Baton Rouge Magnet High. Students going this route would be bypassing the five public schools St. George would inherit, including Woodlawn High.
It’s an unusual set-up with little precedent in Louisiana. Cross-district enrollment of any sort is rare in this state. Critics of this provision question why St. George needs a new district at all if it is willing to allow so many of its students to attend school in a neighboring district.
St. George Community School System map and district details prepared by the East Baton Rouge Parish school system.
Allowing magnet cross-enrollment is an attempt to assuage the concerns of magnet school parents who mobilized in force and helped defeat proposals in 2012 and 2013 to create a forerunner to St. George, what was to be called the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System.
St. George Mayor Dustin Yates supports the provision, saying it aligns with his broader support for school choice for parents.
“I’ve told these magnet parents, if you want to send your child to a magnet school, I think you should,” Yates said.
includes a generous grandfather clause allowing children living in St. George, but attending schools in Baton Rouge, to stay at their current schools until they finish. These 2,600-plus students, about 1,500 of them attending magnet schools, would need to be enrolled in those schools prior to the May 16 vote.
However, once that grandfather period ends, continued access to magnet programs is predicated upon the new school district reaching an agreement with the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. When and if that agreement is struck, St. George residents would still likely move to the back of the line when it came time to gain admission to Baton Rouge magnet schools.
The fight has begun
Voters are starting to see and hear from supporters and opponents. Both sides say they will ramp up their respective campaigns after Easter and for the six weeks leading up to the May 16 election.
Pro-St. George signs have begun to dot local lawns. A new website, , is live and is releasing daily testimonials. Yates has begun sitting for interviews with local media as well as media outlets elsewhere in the state.
Yates said there’s more to come, including radio, television and digital ads. He also is planning to travel the state to spread the word.
St. George supporters have been criticized for offering few details of how they would operate the new school district. Yates said that the lack of a master plan is no different than Baker, Central and Zachary. He said such a plan will be developed soon after the May 16 vote by the newly appointed interim school board.
Yates said St. George supporters have already received input from an out-of-state education consulting firm — he wouldn’t say who. And Central and Zachary, which are both among the highest-rated school districts in Louisiana, are both sources of inspiration.
“We want to be the best,” Yates said, “and we want to see what the rest of the country is doing successfully.”
A preexisting political organization in St. George, PULSE, is leading the opposition to the new school district. PULSE stands for People United to Lead St. George Engagement.
PULSE has held a handful of public events. It has also been raising money and holding a number of gatherings in people’s homes. It’s now shifting to more traditional campaigning, including digital political ads, at least one mailer and ramped up canvassing of voters. It has scheduled community events in seven metro areas across the state.
“We are helping people connect the dots to show that this new school district is not needed,” said Kaitlyn Joshua, who is leading outreach efforts for the volunteer organization.
Joshua said PULSE is also working with organizations in Baton Rouge and across the state, including teacher unions and the Louisiana Democratic Party, to reach more voters as well as connecting with a variety of community leaders to spread the word.
Underscoring the racial tension driving much of this debate, complete with an illustration inspired by the famous Norman Rockwell painting of Ruby Bridges, the 6-year-old Black girl who in 1960 enrolled in an all-White elementary school in New Orleans.
Bad blood
May 16 will be . Competitive primaries for the U.S. Senate and the Fifth Congressional District dominate the day. Voters will also consider five proposed amendments to the Louisiana Constitution. The St. George school district proposal is Amendment 2.
Unlike the other proposed amendments, Amendment 2 needs to pass not just statewide, but also across the entirety of East Baton Rouge Parish. That dual passage threshold is the high bar that Baker, Central and Zachary cleared years ago in order to launch their respective independent school districts. They did so handily, with winning vote percentages in the parish ranging from 56% for Zachary in 1999 to 69% for Central in 2006.
Creating a St. George school district may prove a tougher sell. That’s largely because of lingering bad blood emanating from the ugly, long-running fight to create the city.
The incorporation effort began within months of the defeat of the proposed breakaway school district in southeast Baton Rouge. They were following in the footsteps of Central, which incorporated in order to bolster its case for having its own school district.
Opponents argued it would divide communities that have historically identified as residents of Baton Rouge. The debate was also often divided along racial lines, with some Black locals describing the proposed new city as modern segregation.
The St. George incorporation fight culminated in an October 2019 vote to create the city.
That vote, however, was open only to residents of the proposed city. It passed by a 54% to 46% margin. Residents of the rest of East Baton Rouge Parish were excluded.
Amendment 2 will include those more than 200,000 voters excluded in 2019.
Joshua said the chance to vote now on something they were excluded from seven years ago is proving a big motivator so far in PULSE’s voter outreach.
“They weren't able to vote the first time around and now they get an opportunity to have a say-so,” Joshua said.