Like Smaller Class Sizes, Smaller Constituencies in School Board Districts Create More Opportunities for Learning and Growth

For the past several months, the nine members of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board have been debating the often contentious and complex issue of redistricting. Drawing district lines that afford fair and equitable representation for all of East Baton Rouge’s children, parents, teachers, and administrators is a tall task. As advocates who have been following the process closely and organizing public engagement, we’ve seen how hard it is firsthand.

Yet, here we are, in the final hours of this arduous process, and it still appears that a majority of the board might be set to approve a new plan that does little to address the very serious problems that exist within their current district alignment. The plans that currently seem to have the most support on the board are likely to lead to lengthy, expensive court battles that would, according to an analysis from several redistricting experts, be likely to be struck down in court.

But the board doesn’t have to take that path. There are options available to them that would satisfy legal requirements set out in the federal Voting Rights Act and subsequent judicial rulings, while also improving the way the board itself operates. In particular, board member Evelyn Ware-Jackson and Vice President Dawn Collins have proposed an 11-member plan that would add two new districts/members to the board. This would satisfy Voting Rights Act requirements, and shrink the size of each district in a way that would give East Baton Rouge Parish residents more of a say in how our school system is run.

Since the school board opted to shrink itself to nine members back in 2014, we have seen moneyed interests increasingly insert themselves into campaigns for school board seats. Those same moneyed interests have then taken on an outsized role in influencing education policy. Their financial interests and the interests of our kids are rarely, if ever, aligned. Returning to an 11-member board, where residents will have the opportunity for more direct contact with their board member, and campaigns won’t be so expensive, is a major step in addressing this growing discord.

When board members search for solutions in our schools, shrinking class sizes and teacher-to-student ratios is almost always one of the first goals they turn to. We think they should take the same approach to their own “class sizes”--their districts. By supporting The Ware-Collins 11 plan, the board would be making a clear statement to the parish and to their constituents that they want to be held to the same standards they approve of in the schools they govern. 

Step Up Louisiana

NAACP Baton Rouge

The Power Coalition for Equity and Justice

Progressive Social Network

Black Voters Matters Fund 

Louisiana Progress