The Natchitoches Parish School Board voted to approve a resolution at its Feb. 15 meeting to order and call a special election to be held in Consolidated School District No. 7 to authorize the levy of a special tax therein. This will give residents of the Goldonna community the opportunity to raise funding through the tax to allow the Goldonna school to remain open. Closing the school became a consideration when the district realized it needs to decrease spending by $5-6 million in the next 2 years. If the district does nothing, it’s looking at a $6 million shortfall. This is a projection. There’s no perfect plan and everything was done to avoid the possibility of closing the school in Goldonna, which currently has 99 students.
The tax is 10 mills on all property subject to taxation within the District for a period of 5 years, beginning with the year 2024 and ending with the year 2028 (an estimated $1,014,000 reasonably expected at this time to be collected from the levy of the tax for an entire year), for the purpose of constructing, improving, maintaining and operating Goldonna Elementary/Jr. High School, including payment of salaries and benefits of teachers and other employees and the purchase of equipment and supplies.
