News alert: Report on independent school districts released to public

A report commissioned by BRAC and BRAF examining the implications of creating new independent school districts within East Baton Rouge Parish has just been released to the public. Among other conclusions, the report’s authors—LSU economics professor Jim Richardson and visiting scholar Roy Heidelberg—say the legacy costs of the southeast breakaway district proposed earlier this year could range from $37.3 million to $45.6 million. The bill that would have allowed for the district proposed a $2.5 million trust fund for legacy costs, and said the state would determine the total costs that would be absorbed by the district, the report says. The report includes charts showing the racial breakdown of the parish and compares that breakdown to the would-be racial breakaway district in the southeast that was proposed in the last legislative session and another district in the south portion of the parish that has been discussed by some residents. It also gives a picture of what racially and economically balanced independent districts might look like, and shows the share of public schoolchildren in the southeast, south, and potentially revised EBR system, as compared to the total number of children in each area. If you’d like to review the complete 23-page report, click here. For reactions to the report, read Daily Report PM. For an explanation of the report from Daily Report this morning, click here. And for a recent Business Report story about independent school districts, click here. —David Jacobs