SLP Board Questions Financial Future
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Discussion for costs associated with a proposed demographics review became an examination of potentially fragile future financial projections during a Monday night discussion among St. Landry Parish school board members.
Financial Director Shaun Grantham told board members that District revenues and expenses could become more precarious in three years.
While accelerated parishwide sales taxes are helping sustain the budget, board members indicated during the meeting that those revenues and property taxes used for maintaining 32 school sites may not be enough to also cover the loss for students attending an array of charter schools in St. Landry.
Superintendent Milton Batiste III told the Board he favors paying for at least part of the demographic study, which will be up for further consideration during a regular August meeting.
“We need to plan for the future, even if we don’t move forward right away. We will at least have the information,” Batiste told board members.
Projected costs for the enrollment study and comprehensive evaluation performed by demographer Mike Hefner, are expected to run no more than $7,000.
However board members are rejecting an additional $19,000 to pay for an additional demographic evaluation of unspecified items related to the District.
Board member Hazel Sias said Hefner performed a similar demographic study of parishwide population trends and student enrollment in 2017, but the Board, Sias added, didn’t always act on the information they received.
Sias said some Board decisions made after the release of the 2017 study were related more towards politics than reality.
“We know we have too many schools,” Sias added.
Board member Tiffany Nolan said the District will eventually need to have talks about a comprehensive plan that involves school consolidation. Nolan added that possibly an updated demographic of parish student enrollment projections might help steer any parishwide consolidation plan.
In the study delivered to the Board seven years ago, Hefner predicted that the District could lose as many as 200 students annually to private, parochial and home schools.
That projection has proven to be accurate, based on budget message information provided to the Board since the 2017 demographic study was released,
Kyle Boss, another board member, said while the south part of St. Landry is undergoing increased residential home development, many of the parents living in those residences are sending their children to schools located across St. Landry District lines.
