Bill to put St. George school system on a ballot advances in House Committee

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — A bill that paves the way for the newly formed city of St. George to operate its own school system has moved forward in the Regular Legislative Session.

Senate Bill 25 passed out of the Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday.

“All Senate Bill 25 does as a companion bill is it gives it an election date in April so that people can vote on it,” said Senator Rick Edmonds (R-Baton Rouge).

The companion bill he’s referring to is Senate Bill 234. That bill would actually create the St. George school board and system within the parish of East Baton Rouge. That bill still must go through the Committee on Education. In terms of legislative progress, SB 234 has a few more hurdles to clear.

Tuesday opponents of SB 25 told committee members it would ultimately divert millions of dollars away from Baton Rouge schools, and they believe passing it now was “putting the cart before the horse.”

Senator Edmonds rejected the suggestion to defer his bill until SB 234 is passed through committee, saying it’s not uncommon to pass legislation out of order.

“We do it all the time, it’s the timeline we get under that we have to pass companion bills, this bill still has to go to civil laws, the language has to be approved. So if you just look at the timing of legislation, those are things that happen all the time,” said Edmonds.

SB 25 passed out of the Appropriations Committee on a 15 to 2 vote.

SB 234 is a constitutional amendment, so it must ultimately go before the voter before becoming law.

Edmonds is hopeful to have it on the ballot for an April 2026 election.