TIGERS CLIMBING Big win moves LSU up in latest AP poll 4C
ADVOCATE THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
W e d n e s d ay, s e p t e m b e r 3, 2025
EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
2024
2025
3.7%
Ô
39,696 38,244
CHANGE
EBR schools see big decline in enrollment
$2.00X
La. targets court’s death penalty decision 2005 ruling outlawed death sentence for juvenile offenders
BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer
The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office has filed a motion that seeks to uproot the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that declared the death penalty for juvenile offenders unconstitutional. The 2005 court order abolished executions of those younger than 18 at the time of their crimes, saying capital punishment for juvenile offenders violates Eighth Amendment constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. Prosecutors for Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office, however, argue the death sentence should be reinstated for a man who was just a week shy of his 18th birthday when he shot and killed an LSU freshman execution-style during a 1992 carjacking and abduction. Dale Dwayne Craig, now 50, was convicted of first-degree murder in Kipp Earl Gullett’s slaying more than 30 years ago. He originally was placed on death row after a jury unanimously agreed he should be executed. But when the Supreme Court in March 2005 issued its split decision in Roper
ä See DECISION, page 6A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
A pair of students hold hands while carrying their school supplies as they walk to class on the first day of school at Progress Elementary on Aug. 7.
Drop from last year biggest since start of pandemic BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
Coming back from the Labor Day holiday, student enrollment in East Baton Rouge Parish schools has declined by about 3.7% compared to a year ago. If that holds, it would be the biggest enrollment decline for the state’s second-largest traditional school district since the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. And it would amount to a 14% drop over a six-year span. Official enrollment counts for public schools in Louisiana occur twice a year — on Oct. 1 and Feb. 1. Each
student gone equates to thousands of dollars in lost state education funding. Tuesday was the 18th day of school since summer break ended Aug. 7. The East Baton Rouge Parish school system had 38,244 students overall on its rolls Tuesday. That is 1,452 students fewer than were on its rolls the day after Labor Day 2024. Last year was the first time in decades that enrollment in the parish school system dipped below 40,000 students. Much of the decline in East Baton Rouge this year is tied to the closure in May of two charter schools run by Texas-based IDEA Public Schools, both of which had “F” letter grades
from the state. Those schools, IDEA Bridge and Innovation, had nearly 2,000 students combined and were briefly among the largest schools in the district. Bridge Academy and Audubon Baton Rouge — the new operators at those campuses — are teaching 1,123 fewer students than were enrolled in the schools they replaced. Unlike the IDEA schools, neither of their replacements are operating high schools, and Audubon stops at fifth grade. Traditional schools operated by the East Baton Rouge Parish school
ä See DECLINE, page 6A
Child care centers struggle to stay afloat, survey finds BY ELYSE CARMOSINO
Staff writer
Louisiana’s early child care providers are struggling to keep their doors open amid rising operating costs, according to a new survey that could spell trouble for a state where thousands of families lack access to affordable child care. About half of providers said their monthly revenues don’t always cover their expenses, according to an online survey conducted in June by the advocacy group Louisiana Policy Institute for Children. Nearly 8 in 10 of 728 respondents said
ä See CENTERS, page 6A
Fast internet will reach rural areas under revamped rules Some communities feel left out
BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer
Fast, fiber internet is coming to Buras in Plaquemines Parish, fulfilling a federal grant aimed at bringing high-speed connections to more rural areas. But after a rewrite of rules for the program, fiber internet is no longer being planned for Lake Providence, in the state’s northeast corner. In August, the state Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity released the new awardees of a highly anticipated, highly debated federal grant program meant to fuel broadband availability across the country. Most
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 71 PAGE 8B
of the $499 million headed to Louisiana will go to fiber companies, including Cajun Broadband, the homegrown company set to build in Plaquemines and several other areas. The Trump administration rewrote the rules for the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment grant program earlier this year. Some internet companies and activists feared that rural Louisiana residents would be left with few options beyond satellite service already available. And while some areas will now see satellite services instead of fiber, it’s only a small slice of overall funding. SpaceX, the company expected to benefit from that rewrite, will receive just $7.7 million of Louisiana’s grant allocation, or 1.5%. The state’s draft plan still needs approval from the National Tele-
communications and Information Administration. Cajun Broadband, based in Broussard, will get $18.2 million to bring fiber to 4,000 locations. That’s less than the $26.2 million it would have received before the program’s revamp because the company, knowing that its previous winning bids were now public information, lowered its bids this time around “to protect ourselves,” co-founder Chris Disher said. “The goal of it was to save the government money, and it did,” Disher said. “And we can still build what we want to.” In addition to rural Plaquemines, Cajun will be running new fiber in North Vermilion and West St. Mary, Disher said. The Louisiana
STAFF PHOTO By JENNA ROSS
Wanda Manning, a retired teacher, has been pushing for broadband in ä See INTERNET, page 7A Lake Providence.
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................8D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 65