School officials gathered for a committee-level review to outline major academic gains and debate upcoming fiscal and facility changes ahead of the official Natchitoches Parish School Board meeting scheduled for July 14.
Superintendent Dr. Grant Eloi delivered an academic update, revealing that Natchitoches Parish has been recognized as one of the top growth districts in Louisiana for two consecutive years.
Since 2021, the district has grown an astonishing 14 percentage points, outperforming the state average growth of 5 points. This rapid improvement has vaulted Natchitoches Parish from 43rd to 16th overall in statewide academic performance.
Dr. Eloi highlighted several stand-out school achievements from the recently released LEAP scores:
- Fairview Alpha Elementary: Achieved the highest growth of any elementary school in the entire state of Louisiana.
- Middleab: Ranked 7th in the state for growth, a particularly impressive feat given its existing status as a high-performing “A” school.
- Natchitoches Junior High (NJH): Recorded a 6% growth rate despite navigating a massive campus consolidation and merging two separate faculties.
Committee members echoed the celebration of these achievements, noting that Natchitoches was one of only nine districts nationwide recognized by the Harvard-Stanford Education Recovery Scorecard for post-COVID reading success, and the only district in Louisiana to show growth in both reading and math on national assessments.
Despite the academic celebration, a complex fiscal forecast was detailed for the upcoming voting session. Dr. Eloi provided an update on the governor’s proposed employee pay raises. While the plan cleared legal challenges, the overall state funding pool was slashed from an originally announced $198 million to $168 million.
The $30 million reduction means certain employee pay codes will be excluded from the state-funded raise. The district is currently waiting on exact guidance from the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) to see who is impacted.
Dr. Eloi warned that it will be “very difficult, if not impossible” for the Natchitoches Parish School budget to bridge the financial gap to provide raises for the excluded employees, noting that multiple surrounding districts have already announced they cannot cover the shortage. A full update on local implications is expected next month.
The committee reviewed a presentation from representatives of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) and its award-winning “Primetime Family Reading” initiative. The federally funded program currently manages 150 Head Start and Early Head Start slots in Natchitoches Parish.
Citing a deep need for early childhood services in the outer areas of the parish, Primetime leadership requested permission to co-locate satellite classrooms at Fairview Alpha Elementary this fall. Primetime pledged to cover all costs for necessary playground improvements out of their own budget.
District officials expressed excitement about the partnership, noting that maintenance crews are already executing long-awaited roof and awning repairs on the Fairview campus to prepare the facility.
District directors presented several summer progress updates as schools prepare for the upcoming academic year:
- Facilities & Maintenance: Crews have addressed nearly 100 work orders since school concluded. Major projects include repainting corridors at NJH into the school’s maroon branding, completing a new greenhouse at Lakeview, and replacing panels at Magnet to address a bird intrusion problem. Phase one of a critical three-phase roof replacement is also underway at the Fairview cafeteria.
- Transportation & Safety: Operations reported zero safety incidents or accidents over the summer session. The district has already hired 7 new bus drivers out of a goal of 15 to combat ongoing shortages. Additionally, 13 new school buses are scheduled to arrive within the next few weeks, and a revamped data-sharing system has allowed the department to finalize routes ahead of schedule.
- Sales Tax Revenue: The district received $2,037,790 in sales tax collections for May (received in June), marking a $308,000 increase from the same period last year. Total fiscal year collections are trending 3.8% above the previous year, placing the district on target to meet its $23.5 million annual budget.
The community back-to-school season officially kicks off with the annual Back to School Expo at Prather Coliseum on July 20. Final approval on hunting leases, updated employee dress code policies, annual job description revisions, and the official 2026–2027 public budget presentation will all be brought before the full board for formal votes during the July 14 voting meeting.