She’s from us — and she’s for us!

Barbara is a lifelong resident of Baton Rouge. She knows our neighborhoods, our families, our concerns, and our hopes.

ABOUT BARBARA

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Barbara attended EBR public schools; graduated from Lee High School; and earned her B.A. in Education from Louisiana Tech University and her M.A. in English from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

After graduation, Barbara came back home and spent the next thirty years teaching in the classrooms of our community, including Glen Oaks High School, Lee High School, and the LSU Lab School.  She then served ten years as Education Administrator for the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. After leaving the BESE Staff, she worked as Coordinator at Advance Innovative Education and was a Program Manager of the Baton Rouge Transition to Teaching Program at the LSU Gordon Cain Center.

Concerned about needed change in our school district, Barbara ran for the EBR School Board, and was elected to office in 2010. As leader of a change-minded board, she and her colleagues expanded educational choices for students in the Parish by approving a select group of charter schools. With new leadership and the public’s support, she and the board she led stabilized the school board; implemented fiscal accountability; launched the new, re-designed and re-purposed, Lee High; and designed the curriculum for a school focused on career-tech educational opportunities. Then in 2015, in an effort to get the School Board and the EBR Metro Council to work more closely on education issues, she ran and was elected as the Metro Council Representative for District 12.

Elected to the State Legislature in 2019, Barbara quickly became involved in all aspects of the legislative process. As a member of the Transportation, Highways, and Public Works Committee; the Education Committee; and the Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs Committee, she has worked to pass legislation that will improve our infrastructure, our economy, and opportunities for all of our citizens.  As a member of the Early Childhood Care and Education Commission, the STEM Innovation Caucus, the Capital Region Legislative Delegation as its Secretary, the Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus, the Council of State Governments– Women in Government Caucus – Southern Republican Director, and the NCSL Task Force on Energy, she has worked with experts from around the state and country in her effort to find solutions to some of our state greatest concerns.

Barbara Reich Freiberg and her husband, Mickey, have been married for 51 years. They are the parents of two grown children and are the proud grandparents of three grandchildren. She is a member of the University Methodist Church and has been involved in numerous civic endeavors.

In 2013, Barbara was honored as a Volunteer Activist; and in 2016, the Baton Rouge Business Report named her as an “Influential Women in Business” recipient.

STATE REPRESENTATIVE RECOGNITIONS & SERVICE

COMMITTEES & CAUCUSES

• Education Committee

• Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs

• Transportation, Highways and Public Works

• House Select Committee on Women and Children

• Louisiana Commission on Civic Education

• Early Childhood Care and Education Commission

• STEM Innovation Caucus

• Capital Region Legislative Delegation-Secretary

• Louisiana Legislative Women's Caucus

• Louisiana Republican Legislative Delegation 

• Council of State Governments – Women in Government Caucus – Southern Republican Director

• NCSL Task Force on Energy

HONORS & RECOGNITION

• LAPCS Charter Champion

• LABI “Most Valuable Player”

• CCA LA Conservation Champion

• HBPA Gold Standard Recipient

• Legislator Business Champion

• Center for Achievement in Leadership Skills Graduate

• Child Care Association of Louisiana — 2023 Champion for Children