re: SB 229 - St. George transition bill passes in both Senate and the House

Presently unincorporated areas on the south side of East Baton Rouge Parish which desire to incorporate and form their own city in hopes of subsequently creating their own public school system seperate from the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. This is opposed by the Democratic Party and by those living in the City of Baton Rouge because St. George is a majority white area, and due to the joint city/parish government system of East Baton Rouge Parish, the City of Baton Rouge stands to lose a significant amount of revenue currently flowing into its general fund from taxes collected in this unincorporated area. In Baton Rouge, the mayor is also the Parish President, and there is no seperate Baton Rouge city council, only the metro council which covers the entire Parish. The only difference between being inside the city verses being in an unincorporated area is that the city gets BRPD and BRFD coverage, where the unincorporated areas utilize the EBRPSO and the private St. George Fire Department. Schools, water, transportation, sewer, libraries, parks, etc are all handled at the parish level.

However, Baton Rouge is no longer the only incorporated area of the parish. Baker and Central are now also their own cities with their own school systems. That is what St. George wants, but due to St. George’s large population, resistance from the city is fierce. The media has framed the incorporation effort as a “secession” effort, and presented it as an example of white flight, an attempt at segregating schools, and all kinds of raciist boogeyman language.