Re: LA R.S. 17:71.3(E)(1)
Will the EBR School Board be compelled to declare Plan 22 null and void?
On May 5th, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board appeared to conclude its redistricting process with the ratification of EBR SB Plan 22 as its official election map. I write “appeared to conclude” because on May 16th, a suit was filed in state court challenging the school board’s adoption of Plan 22.
I am one of the four plaintiffs, and if you’ve been following my posts, you’d understandably assume the suit would be related to the number of single-member districts or the inadequate number of majority-Black districts. In my estimation, Plan 22 does fail on both counts. It maintains nine single-member districts established by the unjust 2014 reapportionment when the board was downsized from 11 members. And, according to Tony Fairfax, an independent demographer, of the nine districts only three are majority-Black. The school board’s demographer, Mike Hefner, argues the map contains four majority-Black districts and that four is sufficient to satisfy Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Others argue even four majority-Black districts is insufficient since the population within the school system’s boundaries has more African-Americans than white people.
However, none of this is directly relevant to Singleton, et al. v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, et al. This suit refers instead to state statute which prohibits school boards from splitting precincts if possible when establishing the boundaries of its districts. Plan 22 unequivocally does split precincts, four precincts according to Hefner, the school board’s demographer.[1] There’s not much to debate on that matter. Either a precinct is split or it’s not. And since Plan 22 contains split precincts, it seems pretty indisputable that it’s in violation of LA R.S. 17:71.3(E)(1), which provides, “The boundaries of any election district for a new apportionment plan from which members of a school board are elected shall contain whole precincts established by the parish governing authority.” [2]
The statute does provide for exceptions but only if the school board is “unable to comply with applicable law regarding redistricting and reapportionment.”[3] The other plan considered at the April 7th meeting—the Ware/Collins Plan 1—does not contain any split precincts. And it complies with other redistricting principles, most notably Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as six of its 11 districts are majority-Black, a better reflection of the racial demographics of the population within the school system’s boundaries. The Ware/Collins Plan establishes that the school board could have adopted a map that satisfies “applicable law regarding redistricting and reapportionment” without splitting precincts. Consequently, by adopting Plan 22 rather than Ware/Collins 1, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board clearly violated R.S. 17:71.3(E)(1).
The suit asks the court to declare Plan 22 “null and void,” prohibiting its use in any elections and instead declare Ware/Collins Plan 1 “to be the sole reapportionment plan based upon the 2020 Census that may be considered by the School Board for adoption.”[4]
A status conference is scheduled for May 31st. A hearing date should be established then. Please stay tuned.
For further reading:
Top Drawer Strategies. 18 May 2022. Suit Filed to Cancel and Replace New East Baton Rouge Parish Redistricting Plan [Press Release] https://mailchi.mp/c9963a92712c/ebrsuite?fbclid=IwAR3czoEoasiVCt6gaE8nK4NlwubZaTQUQ_q708fclniW13jmhbv8jnyqqiw
Lussier, Charles. “A novel legal tactic could flip the racial balance of Baton Rouge's school board,” The Baton Rouge Advocate, 28 May 2022, https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/courts/article_908a1ce8-d54e-11ec-8d7c-5b045410d9db.html.
[1] “EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL BOARD RESOLUTION ADOPTION OF REAPPORTIONMENT PLAN 22.” East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 05 May 2022, https://ebrschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/E.-Baton-Rouge-Parish-School-Board-Plan-22-Plan-Resolution-1.pdf
[2] La. Revised Statute 17:71.3(E)(1). http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=81182
[3] La Revised Statute 17:71.3(E)(2)(a). http://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=81182
[4] Singleton, et al vs. East Baton Rouge School Board, et al, 16 May 2022.