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Groups clash over breakaway district Voters to decide whether city can form school system
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Students navigate the LSU Quad on campus in Baton Rouge. President Wade Rousse and the Board of Supervisors are pursuing major changes at LSU, from organizational structure to national ambitions.
LSU’s executive contracts show school’s new vision Rousse, board pursuing major changes for university
BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
In the past month, the LSU Board of Supervisors has hired two top leaders, given them incentiveladen contracts and restructured how the various campuses they oversee fit together. The moves, board members say, come from a fundamental conviction: LSU needs to level up. They believe the system needs a more unified approach to improve its national prestige and drive major expansions of revenue from both public and private sources. “These are decisions that don’t come lightly,” LSU Board of Supervisors Chair Scott Ballard said. “Everyone knows that I have fought to get the rankings of Louisiana, LSU, to where we should be, and we’re not there. We’re working towards that.” The Board of Supervisors ratified employment contracts with President Wade Rousse and Executive Vice President James Dalton on Thursday,
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
LSU President Wade Rousse, left, is introduced to speak by Board of Supervisors Chair Scott Ballard during a news conference at the ä See LSU, page 5A LSU Foundation on Nov. 4.
In the new year, the proposal to create a St. George school district that matches the city will again take center stage as supporters and opponents rev up contrasting campaigns ahead of a key May 16 statewide vote. St. George Mayor Dustin Yates said supporters are preparing an expensive public marketing campaign that will launch in January to persuade voters to amend the Louisiana Constitution to fund the proposed new school district. “I’m sure it will be in the six figures,” Yates said. “What the number is exactly, I can’t Yates tell you quite yet.” A preexisting political organization in St. George, PULSE, is leading opposition to the new school district. PULSE, which stands for People United to Lead St. George Engagement, has already begun efforts to amplify opposition to the breakaway school district. PULSE held public panels in October and earlier this month with speakers who cast doubt on carving St. George out of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. The group’s efforts, though, look to be more modest than the efforts of St. George school supporters, focusing on amassing volunteers, public events and word-of-mouth. Backers of the proposed new school district say it is an overdue answer to the poor quality of many Baton Rouge public schools. Opponents argue that a St. George school district would exacerbate racial segregation in the parish, reduce the quality of education for poorer children in the Baton Rouge public schools left behind and encourage more breakaway school districts in the future.
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Panel rejects bid by chief justice to reduce judges’ pay Compensation Commission re- few fans among judges or among Weimer says total cial jected Weimer’s arguments on Mon- the other six justices of the state Suinstead voting overwhelmingly preme Court. compensation needs day, But he is offering no sign that he’s to recommend a pay raise of at least next year for judges. Louisi- giving up, even though other judges to be more transparent $25,000 ana Supreme Court judges currently say he is tilting at windmills, and the
BY TYLER BRIDGES
earn $195,000 per year, while trial judges make $176,000. It marked the latest defeat for Chief Justice John Weimer has lost Weimer in his yearslong effort to another battle in his lonely crusade save taxpayers money by paying judges less. to hold down judicial pay. Weimer’s campaign has won him A state entity known as the Judi-
Staff writer
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ä See PAY, page 4A
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101ST yEAR, NO. 167
© D. YURMAN 2025
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amount of money at stake is equivalent to pennies in the overall state budget. “The pennies become dollars, and the dollars become millions over a
Louisiana Supreme Court Chief Justice John Weimer gives a statement to the Judicial Compensation Committee during a meeting on judicial raises in House Committee Room 3 at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge on Monday.
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