re: LA. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of St. George Incorporators

HELL YES! Huge victory for the residents.

The assessor's last update to the website sucks. The breakdown used to be a lot easier line by line and I can't seem to find my way to that page anymore on my personal millage/assessment. It seems more generically explained now.

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StG, OTOH, was having tens of millions swept into the general fund to pay BR’a bills such as BRPD and BRFD’s budget for areas that they don’t service.

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While most likely correct, there's technically no proof of it because EBRP doesn't tell us or even know what the general fund is used towards. StG already has a better grasp of it's financial position than BTR in the eyes of the court because they refused to share where the taxes went in the unincorporated areas of StG through the general fund. It's insanity to think it had to get this far.

This is a great day for Democracy and I'm glad to be 1 of the 54% percent vote YES to StG in the election.

ETA: Again, let it sink in that the city of BTR is HIDING what the general city fund is spending its money on. Outright refusing to share with its citizens. It's an absolute joke that public servants can't serve the public.

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Pretty interesting that this will be the state's 5th largest city. That doesn't happen very often across the entire country I'd guess.

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The plan of government is interesting. Five member council. Three elected, two at large. One of the at-large seats will be filled by the mayor. The mayor's primary responsibility is as a council member. His focus outside of the council will be accountability and, essentially, what the lt. governor does. Promote the city and try to bring in new businesses/keep old ones. The council will hire a city manager to actually run the city. Police service will be provided by EBR Sheriff. Additional funds, assuming a surplus, will be used to pay for additional patrols and sub stations.

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as for having good public schools, there certainly will be a non-neglible amount of students who leave private schools for the public ones if they improve...I have quite a few familiy members in the private school system (teacher, principal, admin) so am well aware of how many students are there not necessarily for the religious reasons, but for lack of better alternatives and whose parents are stretched financially...if you give them a cheaper/free alternative they will take it

but even regardless of how many that is, having good public schools is less about going get "quality" students as much as it is about removing the dysfunctional element (both students and admin) that holds back educating the students they already have...the "better" teachers will flee the EBR schools in droves to work in "better" schools in SG

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The biggest issue at Woodlawn High School and Woodlawn Middle School isn't the students. The biggest issue is that these schools are packed beyond capacity and given reject administrators. EBRPSS has written off these schools for years and have refused to build a second high school and middle school because they were waiting for St. George to hit. With a small district, there is ONE HS principal. He is the leader of your flagship. You pay very well for the position and get the best guy in the region. I guarantee that the school improves across the board from behavior to test scores.

One issue that will need to be addressed, that, again, EBRPSS has ignored, is the ELL students. The St. George area has a large Latino population. St. George will need to invest in an intensive ELL program to make these kids successful.

I'm guessing not all of the Woodlawn kids live in the future StG? I guess they'll have to change schools at some point. Also, even though it's probably years down the road, I suspect that the StG kids in BR magnet schools will have to move as well.

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Yes. It’s still a consolidated government with a mayor-president. Even though she doesn’t act like it, SWB actually represents the whole parish

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And how does that change?
Seems rather silly now considering the size of St George, and then you add Zachary, Baker and Central I’d imagine the population split would have more people living outside the city of BR now.

Yeah, I live in the city of BR, and I’m zoned for Woodlawn Middle & High Schools, and that’s where my neighbor’s kids go - I wonder where her younger kids will go

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Ascension is currently going through something kinda similar with Prairieville High and Dutchtown high. The students from the new Prairieville High zone thats currently going to Dutchtown thats about to be juniors and seniors have the option to finish at Dutchtown next year since they've been there since freshmen this fall. After they're done, that area will be Prairieville only and Dutchtown will be Geismer only.

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Ascension did the same thing when Duchtown opened