Opposition is growing to legislation that supporters say would simplify the overly complicated process of creating new school districts but that detractors say is a backdoor way of forming a long-proposed St. George school district without a vote by residents of the parish.
The East 香港六和开奖历史记录 Parish School Board has come out to formally oppose House Bill 6, by State Rep. Emily Chenevert, R-香港六和开奖历史记录. Also opposing the bill is the 香港六和开奖历史记录 Area Chamber.
It鈥檚 a reassembly of the coalition that helped block legislative efforts in 2013 to create a breakaway school district in southeast 香港六和开奖历史记录.
HB6 seeks to remove legal barriers that make it very hard to create new public school districts in Louisiana. In doing so, it could activate a breakaway district in southeast 香港六和开奖历史记录 鈥 a forerunner to St. George 鈥 that was approved 11 years ago but never funded.
This 鈥渮ombie school district,鈥 as opponents describe it, could serve as the basis for a new St. George school district, which would be carved out of the parish school system.
Chenevert鈥檚 bill easily made it through two House committees, but has hit turbulence on the House floor. It is scheduled to be debated anew on Monday.
A big sticking point is that, in changing the Constitution, the bill would result in people both statewide and in the affected parish, in this case East 香港六和开奖历史记录 Parish, losing their right to vote on the new school district.
Chenevert, however, has amended her bill after initial criticism. She says in its current form the bill protects the right of people to vote 鈥 though only in the school district, not the parish that is being divided 鈥 and it removes the statewide vote now required. And creating school districts also would not require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature that is now required.
She came to Thursday鈥檚 East 香港六和开奖历史记录 Parish School Board meeting to defend HB6.
In response to a question from board member Nathan Rust, Chenevert insisted it was never her "intent" to retroactively create a Southeast 香港六和开奖历史记录 school district.
"No school district would be formed without the vote of the people,鈥 Chenevert said.
Board members opposed to HB6 were not persuaded, and argued, in any case, that eliminating a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to create new districts set the bar too low.
Board member Mike Gaudet who drafted a resolution opposing HB6, said requiring a supermajority vote helps to prevent bad ideas carried out in the heat of the moment from being enacted. He noted that St. George supporters no longer want a district that looks like the left-for-dead Southeast 香港六和开奖历史记录 Community School System and would seek to change it if it came into effect.
"Something that was passed 11 years ago that lies dormant should be thrown out because it鈥檚 something nobody wants,鈥 Gaudet said.
The 香港六和开奖历史记录 Area Chamber, or BRAC, strongly opposed the proposed southeast 香港六和开奖历史记录 district a decade ago and continued its opposition when that effort morphed into the movement to incorporate a city of St. George.
A St. George school district is the long sought educational companion to the City of St. George. Voters approved the city in 2019. City backers won a key victory Friday when the state Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings, clearing the city to begin operations.
On Thursday, the business lobbying organization made clear that its opposition continues at least in HB6鈥檚 鈥渃urrent posture.鈥
鈥淏RAC shares the School Board鈥檚 concerns about the potential implications of such a change,鈥 read the statement issued by Brace 鈥淭rey鈥 Godfrey, BRAC鈥檚 senior vice president of policy.
Godfrey said BRAC has long been skeptical of independent school districts, which are common in states such as Texas, and that HB6 has a 鈥渓aundry list鈥 of other unaddressed issues, listing nine examples.
For instance: Would the new district owe money for facilities and pensions? Would it take on debt for facilities it takes over?
The School Board resolution opposing HB6 passed by a 5-2-2 margin.
Here鈥檚 the vote breakdown:
- For: Mike Gaudet, Dadrius Lanus, Cliff Lewis, Carla Powell-Lewis and Shashonnie Steward.
- Against: Mark Bellue and Nathan Rust.
- Abstain: Patrick Martin V and Emily Soul茅.
All four of the board members who abstained or voted against the resolution have constituents either in the dormant Southeast 香港六和开奖历史记录 district or in the municipal boundaries of the proposed City of St. George.
Bellue said he thought the opposition resolution was well-written and informative but nevertheless said he was voting "no" because he doesn鈥檛 believe the school system should take a position one way or another on the legislation.
Martin said he abstained because he felt the legislative effort was distant from the core work of serving on the school board.
鈥淭his is really fundamentally related to how we go about educating our kids and teaching them to read and write in this district,鈥 he said.
