BATON ROUGE - Members of the East Baton Rouge school board argue they want the future St. George school board to pay its fair share.

The founders of the City of St. George say they created the city because they wanted to create their own school district. They could be a step closer after a bill passed the House Education Committee on Tuesday.

Mayor of St. George, Dustin Yates, says that twelve years ago, he and other city leaders first asked the legislature for a school district.

“We were simply told that if we wanted to have our school system, we had to have our city,” Yates said.

Yates says he is confident the school district bills will eventually pass.

Two measures, which both rely on each other, create a new school district and organize how the district will split from the East Baton Rouge school system, operating independently.

Kaitlin Joshua is a parent of an East Baton Rouge student. She says the plan presented leaves the school district in a deficit without a clear plan for legacy costs.

“I want to make sure that our kids are in a good place in a school district that's fully supported, fully resourced, and those questions have not been answered,” Joshua said.

In a resolution, the EBR school board passed Monday night ahead of the House Education committee, members said the current legislation would leave EBR to pay about $359 million for teacher health insurance and retirement costs. EBR leaders asked to split the amount.

St. George leaders say they want to create their district just like Baker, Central, and Zachary did. EBR school board member Dadrius Lanus argues St. George is not in the same position.

“The biggest difference is the size,” Lanus said. “If you add all those cities together, they still wouldn't equal the size of St. George. When you look at St. George, it is the fifth-largest city in Louisiana. That's a major fiscal impact on the East Baton Rouge Parish School System.”