The city of St. George is trying to establish its own school system. The purpose is to break away from the East Baton Rouge school system and the perceived poor quality of EBR schools.
Federal desegregation laws and busing resulted in most White parents moving to other places or enrolling their children in private schools. So now, EBR public schools are predominantly Black. Testing shows that most (not all) Black kids do not perform as well as White kids in school, and they have more disciplinary issues. The primary causes of this disparity are lower income levels, lack of early childhood education and poor parenting.
Through no fault of their own, these kids often come from neighborhoods overrun by drugs, violence and crime. Correcting these societal and environmental problems is not what a school system can or should be required to do. EBR schools are often faced with trying to educate children who did not have the advantages of children from more affluent families. The result is that all the children in a classroom are adversely affected…