RS 17:68.1

NOTE: §68.1 eff. upon adoption of a const. amend. which authorizes the St. George Community School System. See Acts 2025, No. 455. §68.1. St. George Community School Board and school system; creation; membership; qualifications; apportionment; election; powers, duties, functions; and system operation A.(1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, upon the appointment of members of the interim school board as provided in R.S. 17:68.2, there shall be established a separate school system and school board for the city of St. George within the boundaries of East Baton Rouge Parish. The school board shall be designated as the St. George Community School Board. The board shall be composed of seven members, one from each of the single-member districts as provided for in Subsection B of this Section, who shall be electors and shall meet the qualifications for office provided in R.S. 17:52. (2) The geographic boundaries of the school system shall, at all times relevant, be coterminous with the city of St. George. B.(1) The interim school board shall, within one hundred eighty days of appointment of the interim members, develop and adopt a plan of governance and shall divide the geographic area encompassed by the St. George Community School System into seven single-member districts and each district shall elect one member to serve on the St. George Community School Board. The districts shall be drawn in such a manner so that each member of the St. George Community School Board represents the same number of persons as nearly as possible, using population figures from the latest federal decennial census. (2) Prior to the final adoption of the apportionment plan required by Paragraph (1) of this Subsection, the interim school board shall order a public hearing on the proposed plan and shall cause the notice of the public hearing to be published in its official journal, at least twenty days prior to the date of such hearing, and the notice shall include all of the following: (a) The time and place of the hearing. (b) A general summary and map of the proposed apportionment plan. (c) The times and places where copies of the proposed map and apportionment plan are available for public inspection. C.(1) The initial members of the St. George Community School Board shall be elected at the time and place as provided by law and the election shall occur prior to the date that the St. George Community School Board begins the actual operation of educating students within its jurisdiction as a separate school system. (2) The initial elected members shall take office and their duties shall be generally provided by law for elected parish school board members. D. Vacancies on the board shall be filled as generally provided by law for parish school boards. E.(1) The organization of the St. George Community School Board as well as the board's powers, duties, functions, and responsibilities shall be as provided by law for local public school boards. Compensation for board members and reimbursement for expenses shall be as provided by law for city, parish, and other local public school board members. (2) The St. George Community School Board shall adopt rules, regulations, and procedures consistent with law to effectuate this Section and to administer the duties, functions, and responsibilities of the board. F.(1) The St. George Community School Board shall begin actual operation of providing for the education of students within its jurisdiction on July 1, 2027. (2) Pursuant to the duty and responsibility placed with the legislature by Article VIII, Section 1 of the Constitution of Louisiana to establish and maintain a public educational system and pursuant to the authority granted to the legislature by Article VIII, Section 10(A) of the Constitution of Louisiana to enact laws affecting parish school board systems in existence on the effective date of the constitution, all lands, buildings, improvements, facilities, and other property having title vested in the public and subject to management, administration, and control by the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board for public education purposes that is located within the geographic boundaries of the St. George Community School System or used to provide student transportation services to such facilities, or both, shall be transferred to the St. George Community School Board not later than June 30, 2027. Once transferred, all property shall thereafter be managed, administered, and controlled by the St. George Community School Board. The provisions of this Subsection shall supersede any other provision of law to the contrary. G. The St. George Community School System and the East Baton Rouge Parish School System shall develop a transportation plan or develop a plan for transferring school buses from the fleet owned and operated by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System to the St. George Community School System. H. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System shall provide extended school year services through August 31, 2027, to public and nonpublic school students residing within the geographic boundaries of the St. George Community School System who qualified to receive such services prior to June 30, 2027. I. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System and any taxing district created by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System shall be the recipient of all sales and use taxes levied for school purposes collected within the geographic boundaries of the St. George Community School System and remitted by the tax collector through June 30, 2027. Beginning on July 1, 2027, the sales and use tax collector shall remit all sales and use taxes levied for school purposes collected within the geographic boundaries of the St. George Community School System, including delinquent payments, to the St. George Community School System. J. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System shall receive all ad valorem and property taxes levied for school purposes that are collected within the geographic boundaries of the St. George Community School System and that are remitted by the tax collector through June 30, 2027. Beginning on July 1, 2027, the tax collector shall remit all ad valorem and property taxes levied for school purposes collected within the geographic boundaries of the St. George Community School System, including delinquent payments, to the St. George Community School System. K. With respect to students attending charter schools that are located within the boundaries of the St. George Community School System and the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, all of the following shall apply: (1)(a) On July 1, 2027, the St. George Community School Board shall assume the jurisdiction over the existing charter schools located within the boundaries of the St. George Community School System that were authorized by the East Baton Rouge Parish School System prior to the effective date of the Act. (b) An existing charter operator, at their option, may renegotiate the terms of the contract with St. George Community School System or petition to the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to become a Type II charter after the effective date of the Act. If the existing charter chooses not to renegotiate the terms of the existing charter, then the terms of the charter which were authorized by the East Baton Rouge School System prior to the effective date of the Act shall remain in effect until the expiration of the charter. (2) After the effective date of the Act, all applications for a new charter school to be located within the boundaries of the St. George Community School System shall be made to the St. George Community School Board or as otherwise provided by law. L. As required of all municipal and other school systems pursuant to Article VIII, Section 13(D)(1) of the Constitution of Louisiana, no state funds shall be used to discriminate or to have the effect of discriminating in providing equal educational opportunity for all students. M. The East Baton Rouge Parish School System and the St. George Community School System shall enter into an agreement with respect to the transfer of students between the school system that does all of the following: (1) Allows any student who is domiciled in the city of St. George to enroll and attend a school in the adjoining school system of East Baton Rouge Parish, pursuant to R.S. 17:105.1. (2) Provides that any student who resides within the boundaries of the St. George Community School System or the East Baton Rouge Parish School System may enroll in any charter school located within the geographical boundaries of East Baton Rouge Parish. (3) Provides that any student who is living within the geographic boundaries of the St. George Community School System shall be allowed to attend any magnet program at a school with selective enrollment that is located within the boundaries of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, without regard to attendance zones, so long as the student meets the selective admission's requirements and maintains the academic standards of the magnet program. (4) Provides that any student who is living within the geographic boundaries of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System shall be allowed to attend any magnet program at a school with selective enrollment that is located within the boundaries of the St. George Community School System, without regard to attendance zones, so long as the student meets the selective admission's requirements and maintains the academic standards of the magnet program. (5) Provides that any new applicant to a magnet program or a charter school shall not displace any student who is already on the waiting list to attend that magnet program or charter school, regardless of where the student resides in East Baton Rouge Parish. (6) Provides that the school which accepts a student that is transferred in compliance with the agreement shall receive the local per pupil and state Minimum Foundation Program funds, pursuant to R.S. 17:105, so that the money follows that student to the chosen school. N.(1) Except as provided in Subsection M of this Section, nothing in this Section shall be construed to interfere or circumvent the rights of either school system that are established by law as it relates to attendance zones. (2) Nothing in Subsection M of this Section shall prohibit the East Baton Rouge Parish School System or the St. George Community School System from creating enrollment preferences that may prioritize qualified students who reside within the district boundaries of its school system. Acts 2025, No. 455, §1, eff. See Act.