STATEWIDE VOTE — LOUISIANA — MAY 16, 2026 Early voting May 2 – May 9
No on 2  ·  Save EBR Schools
A civic broadside  ·  East Baton Rouge Parish  ·  Vol. I, No. 1
A Statewide Constitutional Vote

Vote NO on Amendment 2.

On May 16, 2026, Louisiana decides whether to write a wealthier, whiter, breakaway school district into the state constitution — and to drain $100 million a year[3] from the children of East Baton Rouge Parish to do it.

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How to Vote NO Read the Case Join the Coalition
$ $ $ $ SCHOOL PUBLIC SCHOOL $ $ $ $ $ $ $ EBR PUBLIC SCHOOLS STOP AMENDMENT 2 A YES VOTE PUSHES OUR CHILDREN OVER THE EDGE.
A note on history

We have walked this road before.

Within living memory of every Louisianan over forty, this state ran two school systems — one for white children, one for Black children — and built laws, court fights, and entire ideologies around keeping it that way. The 1950s and 1960s were not abstract. They were Plessy, Briggs, Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board, the Boston bus, the Little Rock Nine, the Ruby Bridges photograph. Louisiana's grandparents lived it. Many are still alive to tell the children about it.

The mechanism has changed. The geography has changed. The political language has changed. But when an affluent, predominantly white area of a majority-Black parish carves itself out of the school system — taking the tax base, the newest buildings, and the demographic majority with it — the result is recognizable. The federal GAO has named the pattern.[9] Researchers have measured it.[10] The question on May 16 is not whether we recognize what is being asked of us. The question is whether we say no.

A statement of conscience

This is not local. This is statewide.

Some Louisianans will tell you that Amendment 2 is a Baton Rouge issue. It is not. It is on every ballot, in every parish, in every voting machine in the state — because the Louisiana Constitution belongs to all of us, and amending it requires all of us to agree.

What is being asked of Louisiana on May 16 is whether we will write into our founding document the right of a wealthier, whiter pocket of one parish to wall itself off from the rest — to take its tax base, its newest buildings, and its students with it, and to leave behind a school system serving disproportionately Black and disproportionately poor children, with $100 million less to do the work.[3]

The drafters of this amendment know exactly what they are asking. The history of this country — and of this state — is heavy with breakaway districts. The federal Government Accountability Office has documented the pattern.[9] The American Educational Research Association has measured it.[10] The result, every time, is more segregation, fewer resources for the children left behind, and a quieter, more permanent retreat from the promise of Brown v. Board.

We have been here before. We are better than this. Vote NO on 2.

The figures, in black and yellow

What a YES vote actually costs.

Every figure below is from the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana legislative documentation, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the City-Parish of Baton Rouge, or peer-reviewed research. None of these numbers are in serious dispute.

$100M+ Estimated annual loss to East Baton Rouge Parish public schools if Amendment 2 passes. EBR Schools projection, 2026[3]
5,500+ Students projected to leave the EBR Parish system — with their state per-pupil dollars in tow. EBR Schools projection[3]
8% Projected white enrollment remaining in EBR Schools after the breakaway, by 2019 estimate. 2019 demographic analysis (WRKF)[6]
$48.3M Annual revenue already lost to the rest of the City-Parish of Baton Rouge from the City of St. George incorporation alone — before any school split. City-Parish 2019 fiscal analysis[7]
$33M EBR-funded reconstruction of Jefferson Terrace Academy — a building EBR ratepayers will hand over to the new district. Center for Education & Civil Rights[7]
70% Share of Black-white school segregation that occurs between districts — up from 60% in 2000. Breakaway districts are a primary driver. American Educational Research Assn.[10]
478 Public school employees — including roughly 300 teachers — whose jobs hang in the balance at the five affected schools. The Advocate, April 2026[4]
PERMANENT A constitutional amendment is not a statute. Once enshrined, it cannot be undone by the legislature — only by another statewide constitutional vote. La. Const. art. XIII[12]
In plain language

What Amendment 2 actually does.

Amendment 2 would amend Article VIII, Section 13(D)(1) of the Louisiana Constitution to grant the proposed St. George Community School System the same authority as a parish school system — including its own funding stream, its own taxing authority, and its own governing board, separate from East Baton Rouge Parish Schools.[1] If passed, an interim board would be appointed and operations would begin in July 2027.[13]

“Do you support an amendment to grant the St. George community school system in East Baton Rouge Parish the same authority granted parishes for purposes of Article VIII, Section 13 of the Constitution of Louisiana, including purposes related to the minimum foundation program, funding for certain school books and instructional materials, and the raising of certain local revenues for the support of elementary and secondary schools?”[2]

Bill author: Sen. Rick Edmonds (Senate Bill 25, 2025 Regular Session, enacted as Act 218).[1] The amendment requires a majority of voters statewide and a majority of voters in East Baton Rouge Parish to take effect.[1]

If YES wins

YES = SPLIT

Authorizes the breakaway St. George Community School System. EBR Parish loses 5,500+ students, $100M+ in annual revenue, and five schools. The split is locked into the state constitution.

If NO wins

NO = HOLD THE LINE

The schools inside St. George city limits remain part of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System. The parish's tax base is preserved. Every child in EBR keeps the funding they currently have.

The case against

Eight reasons to vote NO.

A constitutional amendment deserves more than a slogan. Here is the case — on the money, on the children, on the teachers, on the buildings, and on the history.

I.

The money walks. Every parish taxpayer pays more.

EBR Parish schools project losses exceeding $100 million per year in state and local funding if Amendment 2 passes.[3] That is not a partisan estimate — it is the school system's own analysis. Of that, only an estimated $40 million is offset by reduced operational costs from no longer running the five affected schools.[8] The rest is a hole. It is the price of teacher raises that won't happen, of repairs that get deferred, of magnet programs that get cut, of bus routes that get consolidated, of librarians and counselors and paraeducators who don't get hired. Every taxpayer in East Baton Rouge will pay more for less — whether through service cuts, millage increases, or the slow erosion of the public schools their property taxes already fund.

II.

Economies of scale die. Special education suffers most.

Public school systems work because they pool risk and pool resources. A 40,000-student parish district can afford specialists in autism services, traumatic brain injury, severe-and-profound disability classrooms, deaf and hard-of-hearing programs, vision services, and bilingual special education. A 5,000-student breakaway cannot — not at any reasonable cost. Smaller districts routinely outsource these services back to the parish system or refuse to enroll the highest-need students at all. Either way, EBR will absorb a disproportionate share of the most expensive students with substantially less revenue to serve them. Children with disabilities — in both districts — pay the price.

III.

The magnet system — EBR's crown jewel — gets gutted.

Baton Rouge Magnet, Lee Magnet, Liberty Magnet, McKinley Senior, and the parish's specialized academies were built on a parish-wide tax base and parish-wide enrollment. They are nationally recognized. They are the schools families choose to stay in EBR for. Pull $100 million in annual funding out of the system, and the magnets are first to feel it: AP teachers, advanced labs, foreign language programs, arts faculty, dual-enrollment partnerships. The very programs that make EBR competitive with neighboring parishes are the programs that don't survive a $100 million cut.

“This could cause quite a bit of a halt in the work” — on teacher raises, on academic improvement, on every parish-wide initiative.EBR School Board Member Carla Powell-Lewis[8]
IV.

Teachers lose — in both districts.

Roughly 478 employees, including about 300 teachers, work at the five EBR schools that would transfer.[4] Their seniority, their TRSL standing, their step-and-lane placement, and their building assignments are all in flux. Parish-wide, EBR teachers face a smaller budget for raises while a wealthier breakaway district will be positioned to poach the most experienced talent. The result is a two-tier teacher market within a single parish: a well-funded district paying premium salaries and a starved district struggling to fill classrooms. Louisiana already has a teacher shortage. Amendment 2 makes it worse.

V.

Deferred maintenance becomes catastrophic neglect.

EBR has aging buildings across the parish — some half a century old, with roofs, HVAC, plumbing, and ADA issues that already strain capital budgets. The five schools transferring under Amendment 2 are, by contrast, among the system's newest: three were built in the past 20 years, and Woodlawn High was rebuilt in 2003.[5] Jefferson Terrace Academy alone was rebuilt with $33 million in EBR ratepayer funds.[7] Under Amendment 2, those buildings — the system's newest assets — walk away. The aging buildings stay. Every dollar of deferred maintenance gets harder to fund.

VI.

The pattern is national, well-documented, and ugly.

This is not the first breakaway school district in America, and the federal government has already studied what happens. A 2022 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office analyzed ten years of school district secessions and found a consistent pattern: the new district is whiter and wealthier than the one it left, while the district left behind grows poorer and more racially concentrated.[9] A peer-reviewed AERA study found that 70% of all Black-white school segregation in the United States now occurs between districts — up from 60% in 2000. School district secessions are a primary driver.[10] EBR, where white enrollment would drop to roughly 8% after the split,[6] would be a textbook case.

VII.

The St. George city precedent is already a warning.

The City of St. George itself has been operating for less than two years, and the City-Parish of Baton Rouge already loses an estimated $48.3 million per year in tax revenue to it — a hole that, by the City-Parish's own analysis, requires either a 45% cut in services or a tax increase to fill.[7] A district court initially ruled the city could not even operate with a balanced budget.[1] Amendment 2 doubles down on a financial experiment that is, by any honest accounting, already failing the rest of the parish. Adding a school district on top of a city that cannot pay its own way is not local control. It is a wealth transfer.

VIII.

This sets a constitutional template for every wealthy enclave in Louisiana.

If Amendment 2 passes, the Louisiana Constitution will read, in plain text, that affluent areas can carve themselves out of the parishes they pay taxes to. Every wealthy pocket of every other parish — in Lafayette, in Jefferson, in St. Tammany, in Caddo — will have a working playbook. And because Amendment 2 is constitutional, not statutory, no future legislature can put the genie back in the bottle. Only another statewide constitutional vote can.[12] Louisianans in Lake Charles, Shreveport, Alexandria, Houma, and Monroe should ask themselves: what does my parish look like ten years from now if this is the new template?

“What was once the segregationist's project is now an item on the ballot. We have a name for moving in this direction. Vote NO on 2.”
Your ballot, your voice

How to vote NO on Amendment 2.

There are three ways to make your voice heard. Every Louisianan registered to vote can cast a ballot on this amendment. Pick the one that works for your schedule.

01 / EARLY

May 2 – May 9, 2026[11]

Early Voting

The simplest, fastest option. Walk into any early voting location in your parish, any day from May 2 through May 9, and cast your ballot. Lines are typically short. No appointment needed. Bring a Louisiana driver's license, state ID, or LA Wallet.

Find Early Voting Sites →
02 / DAY OF

Saturday, May 16, 2026[2]

Election Day

Polls are open 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Vote at your assigned precinct — not the early voting site. Confirm your precinct on the Secretary of State's voter portal. Bring valid photo ID. Plan to vote in the morning if possible; lines grow late.

Find Your Precinct →
03 / ABSENTEE

Apply by May 12, 2026[14]

Mail-In Ballot

If you are 65 or older, have a disability, will be out of the parish during the entire early-voting and election-day window, are a college student living away, or qualify under one of Louisiana's other absentee categories, you can request a mail-in ballot. Apply early; mail is slow.

Request Absentee →

When you get your ballot

Find Amendment 2. Bubble in NO / AGAINST. Move on. It takes about ten seconds.

Join the coalition

Help us win this.

Sign up to be part of the parish-wide coalition opposing Amendment 2. We'll send you action steps you can do in under five minutes — share a graphic, talk to a neighbor, drop off a yard sign, drive a friend to the polls.

If you can do more — phone bank, canvass, host a small gathering, donate to printing costs, or speak to a community group — tell us in the form. Every parish, every precinct, every voter matters.

We will never share your information. We will not sell it. We will only use it to coordinate volunteer outreach and to send updates about Amendment 2 between now and May 16.

Every figure on this page

Sources & Citations

Every number, quote, and dated claim on this page is sourced. Click any superscript above to jump to the citation; each citation links out to the original document or reporting.

  1. Ballotpedia Louisiana Amendment 2, St. George Community School System Authority Amendment (May 2026) — full ballot history, legislative votes (Senate 26–5; House 70–24), and litigation background, including District Court ruling on the City of St. George's ability to operate with a balanced budget.
  2. Louisiana Secretary of State 2026 Proposed Constitutional Amendments — Election Date: May 16, 2026 (PDF) — official ballot text for Amendment 2 and election dates.
  3. WRKF / KRVS Public Radio East Baton Rouge schools will lose $100 million if St. George breaks away, district says — EBR Schools' own projection of a $100M+ revenue loss and 5,500+ student departure if Amendment 2 passes.
  4. The Advocate Teachers in the lurch as St. George school vote approaches — confirms the five affected schools (Woodlawn High, Woodlawn Middle, Woodlawn Elementary, Shenandoah Elementary, Jefferson Terrace Academy), 478 employees, and roughly 300 teachers facing job uncertainty.
  5. The Advocate St. George mayor says new school district would mean tax cut — confirms that three of the five transferring schools were built in the past 20 years and Woodlawn High was rebuilt in 2003; also documents the segregation, breakaway-district, and equity concerns raised by opponents.
  6. WRKF Public Radio This wealthy Louisiana suburb is now a city. The goal? A school system of its own. — 2019 demographic estimate that EBR's white enrollment would drop to 8% after a St. George breakaway, plus expert analysis of legacy-cost burdens.
  7. Center for Education and Civil Rights / Penn State The School Secession Movement Is Growing. That's Bad News for Integration. — documents the City-Parish of Baton Rouge's $48.3 million annual revenue loss from St. George incorporation (per the City-Parish's own 2019 fiscal analysis) and the $33 million EBR-funded reconstruction of Jefferson Terrace Academy.
  8. Baton Rouge Weekly Press St. George School Breakaway Could Cost EBR District $100 Million, Officials Say — quotes EBR School Board Member Carla Powell-Lewis ("This could cause quite a bit of a halt in the work") and documents the $40M operational cost offset.
  9. PBS Frontline / U.S. GAO Where Does School Segregation Stand, 70 Years After Brown v. Board of Education? — citing the U.S. Government Accountability Office's 2022 report analyzing ten years of school district secessions, finding that newly carved districts are consistently whiter, wealthier, and more advantaged than the districts they leave behind.
  10. American Educational Research Association The School Secession Movement Is Growing (New Republic, citing AERA) — peer-reviewed research finding that 70% of all Black-white school segregation now occurs between districts, up from 60% in 2000, with breakaway districts as a primary driver.
  11. Talk 107.3 FM St. George School System Vote Heads to Louisiana Ballot in May — confirms the Louisiana early-voting window of May 2 through May 9, 2026.
  12. Louisiana State Legislature Louisiana Constitution, Article XIII (Amendment Procedure) — establishes that constitutional amendments may only be modified or repealed by another statewide constitutional vote.
  13. Unfiltered with Kiran Louisiana constitutional amendments: What a yes or no vote means — documents that, if Amendment 2 passes, a 7-member interim board will be appointed and operations are planned to begin in July 2027.
  14. Louisiana Secretary of State Louisiana Voter Portal — Absentee & Early Voting — official source for absentee ballot application deadlines, polling place lookup, and voter registration verification.

If you find any factual error on this page, write to us via the form above. We will correct any inaccuracy promptly and publicly. Accuracy is the foundation of any honest civic argument.