Bossier Parish School Board Logo

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Decades-old federal court oversight of the Bossier Parish School Board has come to an end, Attorney General Liz Murrill said Thursday in a news release. 

A joint stipulation of dismissal was filed to end 60 years of federal desegregation litigation. 

"It's long past time for these old consent decrees to come to an end. These decades-old cases are expensive, ineffective, and they take power away from local communities. It's time to return that authority where it belongs. Great work by my Solicitor General team, Ben Aguiñaga and Morgan Brungard, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice. I also want to thank Superintendent Jason Rowland and the Bossier Parish School Board for working collaboratively with us to bring this decades-old case to a close," said Murrill.

“This is a monumental day in Bossier Parish history,” said Bossier Schools Superintendent Jason Rowland. “Dismissal of the case allows us the freedom to make our own decisions that are in the best interest of all students, staff, and our community, while keeping in mind the history of the past 61 years."

The Bossier Parish School Board has been diligently working for decades with the Department of Justice to ensure compliance with court orders and end this desegregation case. The board collaborated with the United States on every new school, classroom wing addition and attendance zone change, regularly sharing data that showed student enrollment and academic and extracurricular opportunities with the Court and Department of Justice.

“We have been very intentional in complying with the court order, while also meeting the needs of the school system and how we educate students and employ staff,” Rowland added. “We want to give credit to our district staff and past board members for working to do what was required to emerge out from under the desegregation case, and our current board for having the courage to approve the joint filing and having trust in district leadership to ensure that everyone at Bossier Schools is treated in the same manner.”

The joint filing, submitted by the United States Department of Justice and the Bossier Parish School Board with the support of Attorney General Murrill's office, asks the court to dismiss the case with prejudice. The filing explains that the only remaining parties to the litigation agreed to dismiss the case and that, under the Fifth Circuit's recent Concordia decision, dismissal is required — bringing one of Louisiana's longest-running federal desegregation cases to an end.

Murrill has worked with school systems across Louisiana to help bring decades-old federal court oversight to a close.

The other cases include:

  • April 2025 - Plaquemines Parish School Board
  • January - DeSoto Parish School Board
  • July - Concordia Parish School Board