Breakaway school district leaders ‘more confident than ever’

The primary organizers of the effort to form a new public school district in southeast East Baton Rouge Parish say they are “more confident than ever” they’ll succeed in the next legislative session. Last week, members of Local Schools for Local Children were briefed on a report by LSU economist Jim Richardson and LSU visiting researcher Roy Heidelberg. The report lays out what the authors see as the true costs and challenges facing the establishment of more independent school districts in the parish. Under a fair system, the authors say, the southeast district would assume between $37 million and $46 million in system legacy costs. Richardson and Heidelberg also say the new district immediately would face capacity issues that would only grow if it was successful in attracting private school students. “Although we disagree with aspects of the report, we do agree with what has been clear for many years; the East Baton Rouge Public School System is an unmitigated failure,” reads a portion of a statement from Local Schools. The report does not declare the existing system a failure. In a meeting with Business Report, the authors made clear they were not passing judgment on the current EBR system, but acknowledged there’s widespread dissatisfaction with it. BRAC and BRAF commissioned the report. —David Jacobs