Lafayette Parish voters have a chance to see for themselves Monday night what’s at the heart of a Lafayette Parish School Board property tax proposal going before voters Oct. 22.
With less than two weeks until voters cast their vote for or against a 25-mill property tax that would fund more than half a billion dollars of critical school repairs, new construction and maintenance, the school system is opening every school in the district from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday to offer tours and information about the facilities master plan.
The master plan, finalized by the School Board in 2010, calls for the replacement of seven schools: Northside and Lafayette high schools, L.J. Alleman Middle School, Carencro Heights, Green T. Lindon, Katharine Drexel and J.W. Faulk elementary schools. It also outlines new additions to several other schools, as well as maintenance upgrades districtwide.
And as election day inches closer, advocates on both sides of the tax prop can be heard loud and clear through websites, radio spots and other mediums.
Invest in our Children’s Future, a political action committee formed by a grassroots education group, has a website laying out its case for the new tax, which includes a 10-minute League of Women Voters video showing the condition of schools.
The Tea Party of Lafayette acknowledges on its website that the proposal would equate to a roughly 29 percent tax increase. But in a radio spot that aired on KPEL 96.5 Monday morning, TPL Lafayette coordinator Joyce Linde told listeners that a yes vote would “almost double” what residents currently pay in property taxes every year. Other TPL literature has stated that the tax increase would be almost 75 percent.
But TPL was accurate Monday morning when it reminded voters that the school board has already approved a $17-$18 million contact with CSRS Inc. of Baton Rouge for the master plan’s implementation. As noted Aug. 23 in The Independent ("Marketing the Mark-up"), the board approved the contract two months before it’s even known whether the money will be secured. CSRS is the same firm that created the master plan, for which the school board paid more than $900,000.
As also reported Sept. 21 in The Independent’s “Dearth and Taxes,” Lafayette Parish voters pay less school taxes than other parishes comparable in size, and would still be doing so even if the tax passes.
For more on the master plan, visit the school board’s master plan website.
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MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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