BATON ROUGE - St. George could soon get its long-sought-after school district after the state House of Representatives approved it late Monday afternoon.

The bill, which outlines how the St. George school district would operate, has already passed the House and is headed back to the Senate for review. However, if it passes, it will need the public’s approval. 

Malika Wyche lives in the City of St. George, and both of her children have attended East Baton Rouge schools. One of her children graduated from Woodlawn High School and attends college at Columbia University in New York. Her other child is still in school. 

“I want my daughter to continue to have access to the arts education we chose for her from Pre-K on,” Wyche said. 

With talks of a new district, she doesn’t want anything to change for her child. 

“It took 15 years,” Wyche said about the more than decade-long push for a school district. “I hear that argument, but a lot has changed in the city, in this area of town in 15 years, and it’s a whole new set of moms and dads."

State Representative Emily Chenevert is a co-author of the measure and says parents ought to have the final say. 

"When this bill passes, it gives the people the ability to speak to this issue of the new St. George community school system," Chenevert said. 

The issue is more than a decade old and in the platform, St. George council member Patty Cook ran on this year. She told WBRZ at the time that she wasn’t happy with the direction EBR was taking and was a part of the initial push to create a city and school system. 

Now that goal isn’t far out of reach, but even if the measure makes next year’s spring ballot, EBR school board member Dadrius Lanus says the fight won't be over. 

“Even if this does go on the ballot, there needs to be litigation that follows this immediately if it gets out of this body today because it's not right,” Lanus said. “We're talking about a fiscal impact that hurts and harms families and our entire school district.”

If the bill successfully passes out of the Capitol, it could be voted on in the spring of 2026.