School Officials Ponder Budget
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
There are a number of current and future financial questions facing St. Landry Parish school board members and many of them indicated on Monday night that they need more time to consider those issues before approving a proposed 2025-26 operating budget .
Board president Bianca Vedell has agreed to reconvene budgetary discussions on Aug.14 in order to approve a budget outlook that at this point projects a $7.9 million deficit.
The major budgetary issues that indicate revenue loss according to Finance Director Shaun Grantham, are projected District enrollment figures which are expected to again decline, as well as paying off bonded indebtedness due in March.
Board members have until Sept. 4 to make revisions for the budget before submitting the document to state officials, said Grantham.
“I think we need to come back and make some recommendations. What we need to do is take this home and look at it some more. I think we are going to be all right,” said board member Hazel Sias.
Vedell asked if the board wanted to meet again on Wednesday to discuss the budget, but few of the board members supported that request.
“I feel Wednesday is a little quick,” said board member Mary Ellen Donatto.
Grantham spent over two hours during the initial budgetary meeting Monday night, reviewing and answering line item revenue and expenditure interrogatories from board members.
According to her annual budget message, Grantham thinks the District could lose as many as 743 students in 2025-26.
If that projection is accurate, Grantham indicated that the large enrollment deficit could cost the District as much as $7.1 million next year.
Grantham estimates the District could continue to lose students at an annual rate of 300 annually in addition to another potential 388 who are leaving to attend Helix Academy, which is opening for the first time on Aug. 7.
The potential loss of 300 students annually is based on yearly projections from demographers, said Grantham.
School districts statewide receive funding at an annual rate of approximately $10,000 per student.
Board member Kyle Boss said the District should consider closing more schools in order to save money.
“The charter schools, they’re not going away. Ecole St. Landry is allowing us to get some money (from enrollment and services), but with Helix, we’ve got nothing,” said Boss.
Earlier this year the District voted to close Washington Elementary and Opelousas Middle School, two moves which provided savings in school personnel and facility operations.
Superintendent Milton Batiste III told board members near the end of the meeting that he was aware of the possible financial problems the District could face when he accepted the position in 2023.
“I knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but those are the realities. What we need to do now is decide how to make the best of it,” Batiste said.
