At the Natchitoches Parish School Board’s Jan. 18 committee meeting, Superintendent Dr. Grant Eloi started off the budget conversation by saying that the district met with a consultant to project where it would be going demographic wise. They looked at transportation and housing updates, new business, etc… (indicators of growth, stagnation or decline). This showed that the number of students enrolled in schools will continue to go down.
The numbers in October showed the consultant was right on the mark with his predictions and in others the district far exceeded those predictions, and not in a good way.
Why are we here today?
Loss of revenue, increased expenditures, now down 2% in sales tax. We’ve been continuously increasing in sales tax over the past decade.
ESSER money had to be spent on learning loss initiatives or Covid related items.
Consistent student count reduction. We’re seeing this exacerbate since Covid. Last year we lost around 200 students spread out across 13 grade levels and across schools, the district wasn’t able to cut a teaching position (usually for every 20-30 students lost, a teaching position needs to be cut).
Insurance costs across the state have been increasing
If the district does nothing, it’s looking at a $6 million shortfall. This is a projection.
How can we address this?
There’s no perfect plan and everything was done to avoid the possibility of closing the school in Goldonna, which currently has 99 students.
Plan B mitigates the shortfall, it doesn’t erase it.
Making Fairview a Pre-K – 8th grade school and bringing over the Jr. high students from Lakeview is an option that would create a longer bus route. Talked with ECCO about starting school later so students wouldn’t have to wake up so early in the morning and putting GPS on busses so parents would be able to help their children.
Gail Cloud, Mayor of the Village of Goldonna
Very sad. The school is a backbone to the community. Surrounding communities like Readhimer, Creston, Ashland will also be affected.
Suggest holding an election to pass a property tax for Lakeview, Fairview and Goldonna schools.
Eugene Garner, former School Board member
The district in the Goldonna area (District 7) has passed several taxes through the years. The district supported a 1 cent sales tax when the school district was facing a similar deficit several years ago. It’s not Goldonna’s place to balance the budget for the whole school district.
Roy Dupree
Let the people who live in the district decide the fate of the Goldonna school by asking them to vote for a tax in the April election to make up a yet underdetermined millage to keep the school open.
Kelly Normand, teacher at Goldonna
Returned to Goldonna after five years of military service. Her children attended Goldonna and it means a lot to her to keep the school open.
Angie Johnson, teacher at Goldonna
Angie is a second generation teacher at Goldonna. Her kids and grandkids just moved back from Georgia so the grandkids could attend Goldonna. That makes them fourth generation attendees. The school is the community’s passion, its hub, and if that goes away everything goes away.
Board member Chad Fredieu feels like this is a quick fix to the problem the school district has and if they don’t find a way to generate funds they’ll find themselves back at the table in the next couple of years looking to close another school.
If the Goldonna district is willing to bring the cost down at their own expense, then shouldn’t the board give them that opportunity?
“I know that’s there’s more that can be done,” he said.
Board members Dorothy McGaskey and Micah Micholson shared similar sentiments about losing students and MFP monies, closing the school and doing what’s best for the children.
For every mill it’s $100,000 at the current taxable base for District 7. According to Finance Director Lee Waskom, the school district would have to raise 16-20 mills (roughly $2 million). This comes from projections of 20 less kids at Goldonna for the 2024-25 school year, which means a drop in MFP funding. The enrollment has already dropped from 135 to 100 from May of the 2022-23 to August of the 2023-24 school year.
Goldonna is currently paying an 8 mill bond passed in 2017 ($800,000) and 12 mills for the current BRE ($1.2 million). There’s also a constitutional millage of 4.65 and 7 mills for general fund for the parish of Natchitoches as a whole. This is a total of 31.65 mills.
While Dr. Eloi understands the logic they’re using it’s still an inequity across the parish. The school board has to look at the picture as a whole and what’s best for all 5,000 students in the district.
PreK is already out because there’s only nine students with a special waiver because federal guidelines require a higher number of students to have a PreK program.
“These are emotional decisions and they have to be in the hands of the board because that’s the job,” said Eloi. “I don’t like being the bad guy but I feel like I have to point these things out.”
No decisions will be made until the board meeting in February. Board President Billy Benefield suggested that some numbers be pulled together to be presented to the board at its meeting on Jan. 25.
See Budget and Notes in the following article:
Budget cuts needed to balance School District budget, school closure an option
