Breakaway school district proposed in BR
Legislative lawyers are drafting a bill that could lead to the wedge of neighborhoods south of Interstate 12 and east of Interstate 10 to withdraw from the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, according to a state senator.
“The bills are being prepared right now,” state Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, told about 39 businessmen and businesswomen over lunch at a meeting of the Jones Creek Area Business Association.
Though the Senate’s lawyers have yet to finish describing the exact lines, White said the proposed district would extend southeast from the I-10/I-12 split, south of I-12 and east of I-10 to the parish lines.
If approved by legislators and voters, the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System district would include nine public schools in the Westminster, Inniswold, Woodland Ridge, White Oak, Shenandoah, Woodlawn, Santa Maria and Old Jefferson neighborhoods, he said. The schools would include Southeast Middle, Parkview Elementary, Jefferson Terrace Elementary, Westminster Elementary, Shenandoah Elementary, the Woodlawn schools and others, he said.
Zachary and Baker pulled out of the parish school system in 2003. Central followed in 2007.
“It’s really about bringing the community back together,” said Norman Browning, president of Local Schools for Local Children, a group pushing for leaving the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. A smaller district based in the community would help improve the quality of the education provided, said Browning, a salesman who volunteered at Woodlawn High School.
Larry Rosendahl, who sells real estate in the area, said the quality of the schools is an issue always raised by someone looking to move into the area. “That’s one of the biggest battles that as a Realtor we have,” Rosendahl said.
Jill Dyason, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board member who represents much of the area in the southeastern part of the parish, said she would continue to work to address issues that would make the public school system more attractive. “But I would not want to stifle the people’s ability to be able to speak their mind,” she said.
“As a board we probably have been behaving badly, but that’s about to end,” said Craig Freeman, a School Board member representing much of the downtown and LSU areas, referring to recent debates over whom to hire as the system’s new superintendent.
“I understand their frustration,” Freeman said. “But the people of Woodlawn and Shenandoah are going to discover to their surprise that there is an economy of scale that larger systems can offer and that are economically inviable for smaller systems.”
Smaller school systems can be great for average students, Freeman said. But the larger systems can afford to offer costly special training, classes and coaching to students with special needs, disabilities, and those who have exceptional academic, artistic or physical talents, he said.
“It’s unfortunate that there’s a plan to look at breakaways when across the country folks are looking at consolidating,” said state Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, a former School Board member and chairwoman of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus.
Smith said parish taxpayers paid for recent construction and improvements on schools that Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System proposes to take.
Much of the senatorial district of state Sen. Dan Claitor would be included in Sen. White’s proposal. He said the residents of the area have not approached him with their ideas.
Once he knows more of the details and how widespread is its support, Claitor said, he can decide whether he can back the bill. “I have to know how it mixes into the other alternatives we’re putting out there,” Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, said.
Republican state Rep. Hunter Greene, who represents voters in parts of Shenandoah and Woodlawn, said he also would have to review the details once the bill is finished before deciding a position.
“But they have a right to ask for what effectively will be an independent school district,” Greene said. “I know that it has been frustrating for parents when you see so much — what should you call it? — tension, on the School Board.”
Baton Rouge Republican state Reps. Erich Ponti and Franklin J. Foil also represent voters in the proposed new school district. They did not respond to requests for comment.
Any measure would have to pass both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature with a two-thirds vote in each, White said. Then, the amendment would be placed on the ballot and a majority of the state’s voters, as well as those in East Baton Rouge Parish, would have to approve. Then, the voters in the newly created tax district would have to vote to set up a tax system, he said.
If all the hurdles are successfully cleared, White said, the area’s residents could expect to take over the nine southeast Baton Rouge schools during the summer of 2013.