Residents split over proposed division of metropolitan Baton Rouge

A campaign to create a new city and school district alongside Baton Rouge, La., has divided residents and spurred a conversation on race, class and access to education. Under the proposal, the southeastern section of East Baton Rouge Parish — which currently encompasses Baton Rouge proper and surrounding suburbs — would become the new city of St. George.

The campaign for St. George grew out of a failed effort by Local Schools for Local Children to establish a separate school district for an unincorporated southeastern part of the parish. Two previous attempts to form the separate school district were denied because the area in question is not part of the city of Baton Rouge or a proper city on its own.

Supporters of the proposed city, mapped below, believe the move would improve the quality of local schools and create a more efficient government, while detractors argue it would hurt the city and further enforce division by race and class.