On Thursday, March 17th, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board considered a proposal introduced by Vice President Dawn Collins to delineate a process to adopt and publish a single redistricting plan for later ratification.
The vote was close but the motion passed!
Prior to the vote, Gwynn Shamlin, General Counsel for the School Board, did recommend that at the March 30th meeting the Board select one map that they then publish prior to final ratification and that they allow for a 20-day public inspection period.
Mike McClanahan, the NAACP Louisiana State Conference President, spoke in support as did Kaitlyn Joshua of the Power Coalition, and Colleen Kissel and Jennifer Harding of the Progressive Social Network of Baton Rouge. Several others spoke, myself included. Every speaker was in support of the proposal. No one spoke in opposition.
Four school board members—Dyason, Gaudet, Bernard, and Tatman—ignored the attorney’s recommendation and still voted against the proposal. None offered an explanation for their opposition. Thankfully, they were in the minority and the motion did carry.
Final Vote:
Yea: Mark Bellue, Dadrius Lanus, Tramelle Howard, Dawn Collins, Evelyn Ware-Jackson
Nay: Jill Dyason, Michael Gaudet, Connie Bernard, David Tatman
SO WHAT PRECISELY DOES THIS MEAN?
At this time, the board is still scheduled to consider 19 maps on Wednesday, March 30th.[1] You can view those plans at the “Final Map Proposals” page on the EBR Schools website. Click here to access the page.
On Saturday, March 26th, 9-11am (Instructional Resource Center, 1022 S. Foster Drive), there will be a Redistricting Public Forum, which will provide members of the public the opportunity to discuss the various maps with the School Board’s demographer.
On Wednesday, March 30th at 5pm (Board Meeting Room, 1050 S. Foster Drive), there will be a public hearing. This may be the most crucial meeting in the redistricting process. The board will select one map by majority vote. Members of the public can testify at the meeting in support of the map of their choice and/or submit a comment via email or via the online portal on the EBR Schools website. (School Board member’s email addresses and link to portal can be found at the end of this post.)
The map approved by the board and the related information stipulated by state statute will be published in the paper.
At least twenty days after the publication of the map, the board will hold a public hearing (likely April 28th or May 5th) to allow testimony on the single map before voting on whether to ratify the plan.
WHAT CAN MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC DO?
Pick a map and organize friends and neighbors to encourage School Board members to adopt the favored map at the March 30th meeting.
If possible attend the Redistricting Public Forum on Saturday, March 26th from 9-11am (Instructional Resource Center, 1022 S. Foster Drive). This is not an official meeting of the Board, but it does provide members of the public an opportunity to review the 19 maps currently under consideration. The School Board’s demographer, Mike Hefner, will be available to answer questions about the various maps. There may also be opportunities for members of the public to comment on the record.
Make every effort to attend the official Public Hearing on Wednesday, March 30th at 5pm (Board Meeting Room at 1050 S. Foster Drive). This is a critical meeting. Community members should make every effort to attend in person and testify in support of the map of their choice.
Send comments to the School Board before Wednesday, March 30th. If members of the public cannot attend the meeting on March 30th, they may send comments to the School Board members via email and/or through the portal on the Redistricting page. These comments become a part of the public record and help demonstrate public support for fair maps.
To access the portal, click here.
School Board members’ email addresses will appear at the end of this post.
WHICH MAP TO CHOOSE?
Additional information regarding the merits of the various maps will be available soon. In the meantime, stakeholders may want to consider the following:
11-member plan?
A good proposal—and possibly the one with additional districts with the best chance of being adopted—may be for 11 single-member districts. Eleven was the number of single-member districts in the last map subjected to preclearance and approved by the Department of Justice. It would also reduce the ratio of elected official to constituents to 1 : 35,197.
One cause for concern with an 11-member map is that BRAC, et al was able to first “win narrow control” of the board in 2010 after the board was reduced from 12 to 11 single-member districts. Eleven single-member districts may be insufficient to protect the integrity of our elections. An advantage of an 11-member map is that there are two viable 11-member maps including the Ware-Collins 11. The Ware-Collins 11 appears to have already garnered the support of at least a few members, and many community leaders believe it’s the only map with additional single-member districts likely to garner sufficient support.
12-member plan?
A better proposal may be for 12 single-member districts. The EBR School Board had 12 school board districts before Citizens United was decided and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber began its campaign to enlarge the districts. Additionally, twelve was the number of single-member districts established in the 1980 consent decree which required the EBR School Board to replace the multi-member ward system with 12 single-member districts. With 12 single-member districts, the ratio of elected official to constituents would be reduced even further to 1 : 32,264.
15-member plan?
The best proposal may be for 15 single-member districts. This is the highest number of districts currently allowed under statute, and it would reduce the ratio of elected official to constituents to 1 : 25,811. That’s much closer to the ideal population size recommended in 1971: 1 : 23,763. School board races would once again be competitive; it would not be necessary for candidates to garner campaign contributions from billionaires and financial interests in order to win an election. In addition, with fewer constituents, elected officials would be more responsive to stakeholders.
These are important considerations. There are others. A more detailed analysis of the various maps is forthcoming. Subscribe to this newsletter to receive the next update.
Previous posts provide additional history and background information:
Link to public comment portal can be found here.
EBR School Board Members’ Emails:
mbellue@ebrschools.org
dlanus@ebrschools.org
thoward4@ebrschools.org
dcollins1@ebrschools.org
ewarejackson@ebrschools.org
jdyason@ebrschools.org
mgaudet@ebrschools.org
cbernard@ebrschools.org
dtatman@ebrschools.org
[1] Another item on the March 17th meeting agenda would have removed from consideration maps which failed to adhere to Department of Justice guidelines required by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. That motion failed, so all 19 maps are still options at the March 30th meeting.