ST. GEORGE — Pieces of legislation are in the works to start the process of creating an independent school system within East Baton Rouge Parish for the City of St. George, and it could be on the ballot as early as November.

State Senator Rick Edmonds said he plans to file the legislation in the upcoming session that would "establish the framework and necessary funding mechanism to make this long-standing goal a reality."

A news conference breaking down the planned legislation was held Thursday at the St. George City Hall in the St. George Fire Headquarters Edmonds was be joined by St. George Interim Mayor Dustin Yates, State Rep. Emily Chenevert and Interim Councilwoman Patty Cook.

Edmonds says the piece of legislation is being finalized and will be introduced in the next few weeks. 

"We're gonna give several opportunities for people to work on that with East Baton Rouge Parish School Board members, our superintendent, members here in St. George," Edmonds said. "And we're already starting that process."

Edmonds said the legislation will also include an accompanying funding measure that will be introduced as a constitutional amendment. The city's first election is March 29.

The timeline for St. George and its school district is similar to Central, another breakaway city in East Baton Rouge, whose residents voted to incorporate in April 2005. Voters passed a constitutional amendment to create the Central Community School District in November 2006. St. George officially became a city in April 2024 and could have residents statewide vote on the district in November. 

"This was the quickest it could have happened," Yates said.

The creation of the school district would be the culmination of more than a decade of work, as the movement to create St. George started in 2012 as an attempt to create a school district. Bills to create a St. George school district failed to pass multiple times, including in last year's session.