Déjà Vu: House Bill 6 Resurrects Threat to Public Schools in EBR & Throughout Louisiana
March 13, 2024
Louisiana’s state legislature convened on Monday, March 11 for the start of the 2024 regular session, and if you value public education, especially in East Baton Rouge Parish, then you’ll want to pay attention to—and adamantly oppose—House Bill 6, sponsored by Rep. Emily Chenevert (District 66, Baton Rouge).
Rep. Chenevert didn’t have to spend any time crafting HB 6 since it’s a replica of a bill introduced ten years ago by then Rep. Hunter Greene. Greene’s bill was related to then Sen. Bodi White’s “breakaway school” bill which created the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System. So, too, is Chenevert’s HB 6.
Most people now equate the effort to create the breakaway school district in the southeastern area of East Baton Rouge Parish with the effort to create the City of St. George. The two matters are related, but the impression that they are one and the same or inextricably tied together is unfortunate and hazardous. The confusion prohibits community members from fully appreciating the precise harm each will cause as well as how best to prevent their creation.
So here’s a little of what you need to know about HB 6 and the danger it poses to public education in EBR parish and throughout Louisiana.
HB 6, like Rep. Greene’s HB 492 in 2014, proposes a Constitutional Amendment that, if enacted, “[g]rants any legislatively created public school system the same treatment and authority granted to parishes for purposes of minimum foundation program funding and local taxing authority.” In other words, HB 6 proposes a Constitutional Amendment to eliminate the legal requirement for the passage of a Constitutional Amendment to create new school systems. If HB 6 is enacted, the legislature would be granted the authority to create and fund a new school system with the passage of a single bill.
That’s a dramatic change from present law. Currently, creating a breakaway—or independent—school district requires the passage of two bills. One bill creates the school district itself—delineates its boundaries, provides for the establishment of its school board and other matters. But it does not provide for the school system’s funding. That requires a second bill, a Constitutional Amendment, which grants the “legislatively created” school system the same authority as the parish school systems in order to allow it to receive state funds as well as the ability to levy taxes on property within its geographic limits.
A bill which creates (as opposed to funds) a breakaway school system is relatively easy to pass, because it requires only a simple majority of the legislature to vote in support. Since the vast majority of the legislators don’t reside in the parish which will be affected, it’s a seemingly easy bill for them to support without much consideration. They have no skin in the game. Their own constituents are unlikely to hear much about the issue and their vote has the benefit of ingratiating them to the legislator sponsoring the bill.
The other bill—the proposed Constitutional Amendment which funds the district—is more difficult to pass. It requires a 2/3 vote of both chambers of the legislature; the Governor’s signature; and approval by a majority of voters within the affected parish as well as a majority of voters statewide.
Historically, the “breakaway bill” was ultimately dependent upon the Constitutional Amendment. The bill creating the school system would contain language stating that it would only take effect “if and when” a second bill, a Constitutional Amendment, was adopted, and it would identify the proposed Constitutional Amendment by its bill number and the date of the election when voters would decide the matter.
There are no other legal requirements to create a breakaway school system. Many people are under the misguided impression that proponents of the breakaway school system are legally required to first create a municipality. That is not the case. Some legislators did oppose the creation of the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System on the grounds that it was not incorporated as its own municipality—as some did when the Central Community School System was first proposed, but there is no legal basis for requiring an area to become its own city first. The proponents of the City of St. George took up that cause as a means of garnering support for the required Constitutional Amendment.
In 2012, when Sen. Bodi White first attempted to create the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System, he was clearly attempting to not only create the new school system but also change the process by which breakaway school systems are created. That year he sponsored three bills related to the breakaway. One bill, Senate Bill 563, proposed creating the school system and contained the “if and when” language to two other bills, SB 299 and SB 305.
Senate Bill 299 proposed the Constitutional Amendment to provide the new school system with the power to garner funding, and it specifically named the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System.
Senate Bill 305 proposed a “Constitutional Amendment to remove geographic limitations on the legislature's authority to create new school boards and provide relative to the financing of public education.” In other words, way back in 2012 White proposed a Constitutional Amendment similar to Chenevert’s HB 6 that would eliminate the need for a Constitutional Amendment to garner funding for any breakaway school system.
In the 2012 legislative session, Sen. White was able to garner the simple majority needed to pass SB 563, which created a Southeast Baton Rouge school district; however, he failed to garner the requisite 2/3 support for the required Constitutional Amendment. SB 305 died in committee. SB 299 died on the House floor. Since SB 563 included the customary “if and when” language which referenced SB 299 and SB 305, the school system’s creation depended upon the adoption of either one of those bills. When both bills failed, the school system delineated by SB 563 effectively disappeared.
In 2013 Sen. White revised his strategy. In the bill creating the school system, he did not reference any specific bills regarding the required Constitutional Amendment. Once again the bill creating the school system passed. Once again the Constitutional Amendment funding the proposed school system was defeated. However, because the school system bill did not include “if and when” language referencing the specific Constitutional Amendment bill, the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System did not disappear when the related Constitutional Amendment failed to pass. The “legislatively created school system” has remained on the record, simply awaiting the passage of a Constitutional Amendment allowing it to receive state funds and the ability to levy taxes on property within its boundaries.
Enter HB 6. With HB 6, Rep. Chenevert has resurrected the effort to permanently alter the process by which breakaway school districts are created and to immediately fund the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System which was created in 2013. If passed this legislative session and adopted by voters in the fall, Rep. Chenevert’s proposed Constitutional Amendment may allow the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System to garner funding as early as 2025. It’s not impossible for the new district to begin operating for the 2025-2026 school year. And the harm it will cause EBR public schools and the threat it poses to public education across the state cannot be overstated.
Here is a summary of the most significant reasons to oppose the bill:
Adverse effects for East Baton Rouge Parish:
HB 6 would effectively authorize the creation of the Southeast Baton Rouge School System. The creation of this school system has ill effects for both those who would remain in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System as well as those in the new district.
Senate Bill 199, the bill passed in 2013 which created the Southeast Baton Rouge School System, fails to adequately define the scope of legacy costs and the manner by which legacy costs will be calculated for retirees who served the East Baton Rouge Parish School System when the proposed district was part of the system.
What are legacy costs and why should you care about them?
According to Dr. Roy Heidelberg, who has a Ph.D. in public administration and coauthored the 2012 report School District Restructuring and Reform for the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and Baton Rouge Area Chamber, “Legacy costs have to do with broad promises made to workers, and if you are not accounting for every worker to which this promise has been made then you are not accounting for legacy costs.” This means that in order to fully cover legacy costs, the proposed district should cover their share of the health care costs for every retiree who served the EBRPSS while the proposed district was part of the EBRPSS as well as cover the future health care costs of current EBRPSS employees based on the employees’ time in the EBRPSS while the proposed district was part of the EBRPSS.
In 2012, legacy costs for EBRPSS as a result of the new district were estimated at $5-6 million for the first year alone.
Legacy costs are paid out of the Minimum Foundation Program, the state program which allots funds to the EBRPSS. If the new district sidesteps its financial responsibility for legacy costs, the per pupil allocation for legacy costs will undeniably increase in EBRPSS since there will be fewer students to bear the responsibility for the same expense. The result: less money per pupil for education in EBRPSS.
The new district endangers specialized programs for students with disabilities and gifted and talented students in both the EBRPSS and the new district. In EBR specialized programs would be harmed as a result of the reduction in the tax base and student population. Similarly, the new district would be much smaller than EBRPSS in size and population. Smaller districts lack the economies of scale to fund specialized programs such as self-contained gifted classes or schools like the Southdowns Pre-K Center, an inclusive school dedicated to serving 4-year-old students with and without disabilities.
The proposed district increases the percentage of at-risk students in the EBRPSS while decreasing the available funding, further undermining the district’s ability to provide these students with adequate resources.
The new district lines will prohibit many students from attending their current schools. The bill does provide that high school students may elect to continue in their current school until graduation, but all other students who live within the boundaries of the new school system would be prohibited from attending school in EBRPSS and vice versa.
Statewide Implications:
Eliminating the need for a Constitutional Amendment to create breakaway school districts will likely increase the authorization of such districts. All that will be required is a single bill passed by simple majority votes in the legislature and the Governor’s signature.
As the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System demonstrates, neighborhoods or a collection of neighborhoods—not municipalities—are more likely to be granted school district status. These districts are likely to draw their lines in a manner to capture high performing schools and wealthier areas, exacerbating inequalities in school funding.
Smaller districts will not only exacerbate inequities within a parish. They will also reduce MFP funding for all districts state-wide. According to Dr. Belinda Davis, Associate Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University, small districts receive extra funding due to economies of scale problems that are addressed in the MFP formula. The creation of each small district results in a reduction in MFP funding to school districts throughout Louisiana.
For those in East Baton Rouge Parish and those in the 63 other parishes, these are compelling reasons to oppose HB 6. But it’s been more than ten years since the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System was first proposed. Many have forgotten the arguments against its creation and against the proposal to eliminate the need for a Constitutional Amendment. Many new parents with school-age children may not have heard or paid attention to the arguments during the original debate more than ten years ago.
That’s true for many new legislators as well. It’s likely Rep. Emily Chenevert, the newly-elected state legislator and sponsor of HB 6, is unaware of the harm her proposed legislation would cause East Baton Rouge Parish and the state as a whole. If that’s the case, she may change her support for HB 6 when she is presented with the information about its adverse effects. However, that information is unlikely to be shared in our local media outlets or provided to her by area business leaders.
That’s how it was back in 2012 when Sen. Bodi White first introduced the bills proposing the breakaway school district and related Constitutional Amendments. Governor Bobby Jindal was steamrolling his way through the first legislative session of his second term. The Republicans had a majority in both chambers and dominated both Education Committees. They appeared poised to unanimously support Sen. White’s bills. But parents and community members organized to oppose the creation of the breakaway school district. And we stopped it. And we continued to work to defeat it in 2013 and 2014, effectively preventing the passage of the Constitutional Amendment by raising awareness about the dangers such breakaways posed to public schools in EBR Parish and across the state. Those arguments are still relevant today and illustrate why HB 6 should be met with resounding opposition.
As it was in 2012, it will be up to community members to raise awareness about these issues. Public school parents, advocates, concerned citizens will need to contact Rep. Chenevert and, if they don’t live in Chenevert’s district, their own state legislators. They will need to talk friends and family in the Baton Rouge area and across the state and ask that they also contact elected officials. That may be all the action required to get a harmful bill pulled from the legislative process. In fact, it may be the only action that will get a harmful bill pulled from the legislative process. Remember the wise words of Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Contact information for Rep. Emily Chenevert:
Legislative assistant: Ansleigh Fontenot
Office phone: (none provided)
Email: hse066@legis.la.gov
Mailing address:
Rep. Emily Chenevert
111 Founders Drive, Suite 100
Baton Rouge, LA 70810
Contact information for state legislators: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Bios.aspx?cid=H
Learn who your legislators are: https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/Home/VoterLogin
School voucher systems and "private" school systems funded by taxpayer dollars is a false step in the education of children. Public schools give equal access to all children to learn and thrive. We need to support public schools, not private school system for those who do not support public education.
All working parents are taxpayers. When public schools underperform voucher systems allow families to use their share of tax dollars to send their children to schools they have confidence in. That makes sense and is fair use of money they contribute in the first place.