After months of discussion and public outcry, the Lafayette Parish School Board is finally set to decide Wednesday whether to place two separate tax proposals on the ballot for voters this fall.
The first property tax, which would levy at least 23 mills in its first year to fund the issuance of $561 million in bonds, would be used to pay for the first phase of a $1.1 billion facilities master plan adopted by the board last year. Also included in the tax proposition is an additional 2 mills to be set aside for maintenance of the district’s schools and other facilities.
The other tax proposal, first introduced June 15 with a proposed 5.4 mills, would now — if approved — allow the board to levy an additional 12-mills that would raise no more than $19.5 million a year to fund a districtwide Pre-K4 program.
LPSS Finance Director Matt Dugas tells The Advocate that the sudden increase on the pre-K tax proposal acts as a safeguard for any potential future loss of state funding. The Advocate reports that over the past five years, Lafayette Parish schools have seen a loss of more than $736,000 in state funding for pre-k and other early learning programs.
The board’s quest for more tax money has raised concerns from some in the community, such as the 100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette, which asked the board a few months ago to hold off on a property tax until it selects a permanent superintendent and a long-term education plan to address the broad achievement gap for at-risk, low-income students.
And no surprise here, the tax props are also under fire from the Tea Party of Lafayette, one of the city’s most active political groups as of late. The group, on its website, has this to say about the school board: “Last time LPSB got a tax increase, it brokered a deal with the Chamber of Commerce to implement reforms and achieve performance benchmarks in exchange for the Chamber’s support on the sales tax increase. LPSB never even TRIED to hold up its end of the bargain after the election. That tax increase in 2001 was for teacher pay raises, but LPSB used the money instead for its own pet project – lower class sizes. LPSB ignored considerable pressure from the Chamber to hold up its end of the bargain.
“LPSB built 4 new schools in the late 90’s [sic], ignored a court order to desegregate, and was later forced to build a 5th school that it hadn’t budgeted,” TPL continues.
The special school board meeting, open to the public, is at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the central office.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
Most Read
in case you missed it
Subscribe to this comment's feed
What's a good web reference for this kind of stuff? I saw another article today with "sic" after a decade with an apostrophe....