While states all over the country are lowering or eliminating program funding, Louisiana may have gone too far.
At least, that’s what the St. Charles Parish School Board members seem to think.
Jim Malone, St. Charles Parish school district comptroller, said that the state’s formula to determine funding for schools is supposed to grow by 2.75 percent each year to cover the cost of growing school districts. Last year, the state decided to cut that.
“With the crisis the state was in last year, they chose to eliminate the growth factors,” Malone said. “Included in the legislation was the fact that it would come back into the formula for the fiscal year 2011. Now, not only are they looking at not putting the 2.75 percent back in the formula like they promised last year, but they’re also trying to reduce the formula by an additional two percent.”
No one seemed more concerned about the cuts than Superintendent Rodney Lafon.
“I always thought that students were a priority in this state,” Lafon said during the board’s committee meetings.
During the school board meeting on Dec. 9, the board members decided they were not going to sit back and take the cut.
The board voted to adopt a resolution to let the state know that they disagree with the proposed funding cuts.
“It’s basically the board taking a stance and requesting that the state fully fund the formula,” Malone said. “We don’t control what happens. All we can do is let them know our feelings and what is needed for the students in St. Charles Parish.”
Malone said that if the cuts still take place, the school board will be able to handle it for now but it may cause problems in the future.
“We can handle it initially. The problem is that it just keeps continuing,” he said. “If you look at how much (the state) has cut in addition to what was cut from the formula, it starts adding up.”
Be the first to comment